In a video posted by Rudaw media before the attack on the US embassy, a Hezbollah fighter ready to march in the streets of the Iraqi capital Baghdad told the cameras he would enter the embassy with the intention to kill every single American employee. He told the cameras: “This is a letter to Trump and the American embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil and Basra.
“Those who have attacked our forces and our Jihadi brothers, God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee.
“We are the children of the martyrs and this is our statement.
“Death to America.”
Dozens of Iraqi Shia militiamen and their supporters broke into the compound in Baghdad during scenes of violence on Tuesday.
READ MORE: US Embassy in Iraq under attack as protesters storm building
Protestors smashed through the main door and set fire to a reception area in protest over deadly US air-strikes targeting the Iranian-backed militia.
US President Donald Trump has accused Iran of “orchestrating” the attack on the embassy and warned they will be “held responsible” – Tehran has denied any involvement.
The US President wrote on Twitter: “Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many.
“We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the US Embassy in Iraq.
In Washington, the State Department said all US personnel at the embassy were safe, and there were no plans to evacuate the site.
There were no reports of casualties, but the unprecedented breach was one of the worst attacks on the embassy in recent memory.
The attack at embassy followed US air-strikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah.
The US military said the air-strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it blamed on the militia.