Iraqi PM warns U.S. against unilateral response to rocket attack on embassy

BAGHDAD, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani has reiterated his government's commitment to protecting diplomatic missions while reminding the United States not to respond unilaterally to an unclaimed rock attack on the U.S. embassy without Iraq's approval.

He made the remarks in a phone call from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday night on security issues, including a rocket attack near the U.S. embassy earlier in the day, said a statement by the Iraqi prime minister's media office.

Al-Sudani stressed the government's commitment to protecting diplomatic missions in Iraq, personnel of the international coalition mission, and their facilities, "warning at the same time against direct response without the approval of the Iraqi government," the statement said.

Austin, for his part, welcomed the Iraqi government's condemnation and measures to pursue the perpetrators, stressing that such actions threaten the internal security of Iraq, according to the statement.

In the early hours of Friday, a barrage of rockets hit the vicinity of the U.S. embassy located in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.

Later, al-Sudani condemned the targeting of diplomatic missions as "unacceptable under any circumstances," and gave the order to hunt down those responsible.

U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria have recently become the targets of attacks by armed Shiite militias as part of retaliatory measures for the U.S. support of Israel in its ongoing conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The repeated attacks by Iraqi militias prompted the U.S. forces to conduct airstrikes on positions of the Iraqi paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces that killed more than a dozen fighters and wounded others.