Basra, Iraq - A rocket hit a site in
southern Iraq used by foreign oil companies on Wednesday,
including US energy giant ExxonMobil, wounding three people
and threatening to further escalate US-Iran tensions in the
region.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
attack near Iraq's southern city of Basra, the fourth time in a
week that rockets have struck near US installations.
Three previous attacks on or near military bases housing
U.S. forces near Baghdad and Mosul caused no casualties or major
damage. None of those incidents were claimed.
An Iraqi security source said it appeared that Iran-backed
groups in southern Iraq were behind the Basra incident.
"According to our sources, the team (that launched the
rocket) is made up of more than one group and were well trained
in missile launching," the security source said.
He said they had received a tip-off several days ago the
U.S. consulate in Basra might be targeted but were taken by
surprise when the rocket hit the oil site.
Abbas Maher, mayor of the nearby town of Zubair, said he
believed Iran-backed groups had specifically targeted Exxon to
"send a message" to the United States.
US-Iranian hostility has risen since President Donald
Trump withdrew Washington from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and
other world powers in May last year.
Trump has since reimposed and extended U.S. sanctions on
Iran, forcing states to boycott Iranian oil or face sanctions of
their own. Tehran has threatened to abandon the nuclear pact
unless other signatories act to rein in the United States.
The U.S. face-off with Iran reached a new pitch following
attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf in May and June that
Washington blames on Tehran. Iran denies any involvement.
ESCALATION FEARED
While the long-time foes say they do not want war, the
United States has reinforced its military presence in the region
and analysts say violence could nonetheless escalate.
Some Western officials have said the recent attacks appear
designed to show Iran could sow chaos if it wanted.
Iraqi officials fear their country, where powerful
Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias operate in close proximity
to some 5,200 U.S. troops, could become an arena for escalation.
The United States has pressed Iraq's government to rein in
Iran-backed paramilitary groups, a tall order for a cabinet that
suffers from its own political divisions.
Iraq's military said three people were wounded in
Wednesday's strike by a short-range Katyusha missile. It struck
the Burjesia site, west of Basra, which is near the Zubair
oilfield operated Italy's Eni SpA.
Police said the rocket landed 100 metres from the part of
the site used as a residence and operations centre by Exxon.
Some 21 Exxon staff were evacuated by plane to Dubai, a security
source said.
Zubair mayor Maher said the rocket was fired from farmland
around three to four kilometres (2 miles) from the site. A
second rocket landed to the northwest of Burjesia, near a site
of oil services company Oilserv, but did not explode, he said.
"We cannot separate this from regional developments, meaning
the US-Iranian conflict," Maher said.
"These incidents have political objectives ... it seems some
sides did not like the return of Exxon staff."
EXPORTS UNAFFECTED
Exxon had evacuated its staff from Basra after a partial
US Baghdad embassy evacuation in May and staff had just begun
to return.
Burjesia is also used as a headquarters by Royal Dutch Shell
PLC and Eni., according to Iraqi oil officials.
The officials said operations including exports from
southern Iraq were not affected.
A separate Iraqi oil official, who oversees foreign
operations in the south, said the other foreign firms had no
plans to evacuate and would operate as normal.
A Shell spokesman said its employees had "not been subject
to the attack ... and we continue normal operations in Iraq."
Wednesday's rocket strike fits into a pattern of attacks
since May, when four tankers in the Gulf and two Saudi oil
pumping stations were attacked.
They have been accompanied by a spate of incidents inside
Shi'ite-dominated Iraq, which is allied both to the United
States and fellow Shi'ite Muslim Iran.
The attacks in Iraq have caused less damage but have all
taken place near US military, diplomatic or civilian
installations, raising suspicions they were part of a campaign.
A rocket landed near the US embassy in Baghdad last month
causing no damage or casualties. The United States had already
evacuated hundreds of diplomatic staff from the embassy, citing
unspecified threats from Iran.
Iran backs a number of Iraqi Shi'ite militias which have
grown more powerful after helping defeat Islamic State.
Iraqi officials say that threats from Iran cited by
Washington when it sent additional forces to the Middle East
last month included the positioning by Iran-backed militias of
rockets near US forces.
Rockets hit on or near three separate military bases housing
US forces near Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul in
three separate attacks since Friday.