The daughter of a member of the pro-Iranian armed group Kataeb Hezbollah, who was killed in a reported U.S. strike in Al-Qaim, attends his funeral with other mourners at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf on March 19, 2026. The influential pro-Iranian armed group pledged early March 19 to stop attacking the U.S. embassy for five days, subject to several conditions including that Israel stop strikes on parts of Beirut.
| Photo Credit: AFP
A pro-Iran group in Iraq vowed on Thursday (March 19, 2026) to stop attacking the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for five days, but only under certain conditions, with strikes targeting other locations in the country.
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See Details on AmazonAfter a wave of strikes on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq’s capital Baghdad in recent days, AFP journalists reported no drone or rocket attacks on Wednesday (March 18, 2026) night.
But on Thursday an explosion was heard near Erbil’s international airport in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, said AFP journalists who also saw smoke rising near the fence.
A witness said two similar explosions were heard in the morning. Erbil is home to a major U.S. consulate complex, while its airport houses U.S.-led coalition diplomatic advisors.
Two drones also earlier targeted the US logistics centre at Baghdad International Airport, which houses military personnel and has been regularly targeted, according to a security official.
One crashed within the centre’s compound and the other fell into a civil aviation academy, the source said, adding that neither caused any damage.
The U.S. Embassy and logistics centre has been targeted by drone and rocket attacks several times in recent days, with air defences intercepting most of the projectiles.
Iraq has been drawn into the Middle East war triggered by the U.S.-Israel attack on its neighbour Iran on February 28.
Strikes have targeted Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed near daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region.
These latest attacks come just hours after Kataeb Hezbollah said the group’s secretary-general had “issued orders to suspend operations targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for a period of five days”.
The Iran-backed group, designated by Washington as a “terrorist organisation”, listed several conditions, including Israel ceasing its bombardment of the southern suburbs of Beirut.
That area is a bastion of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is also Iran-backed and is at war with Israel.
Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah also demanded “a commitment to refrain from bombing residential areas in Baghdad and other provinces”.
Whenever “the enemy violates” the truce “the response will be immediate”, it said, warning of more strikes after the five-day period.
Two Hashed al-Shaabi fighters were killed early on Thursday in strikes in northern Iraq, according to the group, which said positions in the Nineveh region in Salah al-Din province were targeted.
The Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), part of Iraq’s regular armed forces, blamed the strikes on the U.S. and Israel.
Pro-Iran factions also have brigades that operate within the alliance, but have a reputation for acting on their own.
Published – March 19, 2026 10:01 pm IST
