A series of consecutive drone and mortar strikes hit US logistical camps and the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service headquarters on March 9, 2026, prompting security deployments near Popular Mobilization Forces bases in Baghdad.
On March 9, 2026, a heavy barrage of drone and mortar attacks targeted US military installations and Iraqi security headquarters near Baghdad and Erbil airports. The reports emerge primarily from Al Jazeera, a Qatari state-funded broadcaster that frequently highlights regional pushback against US military presence, and One Iraq, a local Iraqi channel that rapidly aggregates security incidents with a focus on national sovereignty and the impact of foreign forces on Iraqi soil.
According to an Iraqi security source cited by Al Jazeera, consecutive drone attacks targeted the American logistical support camp in the vicinity of Baghdad Airport. One Iraq corroborated these events, reporting several targeting operations on the American Victoria base at the airport, and noting that the logistical support camp was targeted for the ninth time within hours.
These interceptions have directly impacted civilian areas. One Iraq reported that American air defenses shot down a drone on citizens' homes in the Al-Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad. Further north, Iraqi security sources stated that air defenses shot down a drone that was targeting an American military base near Erbil Airport.
The attacks also inflicted casualties on Iraqi domestic forces. Al Jazeera reported an attack with mortar shells on the headquarters of the Counter-Terrorism apparatus in the vicinity of Baghdad Airport, which resulted in injuries. In an apparent response to the deteriorating security situation, an Iraqi security source informed Al Jazeera that Counter-Terrorism forces deployed near the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization in northern Baghdad, signaling heightened internal military tensions between the state's counter-terrorism units and the Hashd al-Shaabi militias.
The prompt included a conflicting instruction in the TRANSLATION FIDELITY block ('When translating to Hebrew...') despite the main instructions and JSON parameters explicitly requesting English. I defaulted to writing the output in English to satisfy the core structural requirements, while applying the spirit of the translation fidelity rule (preserving the original tone, posture, and loaded terminology without using sanitizing quotes) to the English text. The sources heavily rely on anonymous 'Iraqi security sources'.