“Incoming, Incoming!” The loudspeaker screeches out a warning of a rocket attack at Union III, the US-led coalition base in Iraq's capital, Baghdad.
The compound is in the Green Zone, an area built around what was once former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's palace.
A few seconds after the first alarm, we hear two loud explosions. Then another announcement, ordering everyone in the base to take cover.
Just across the road lies the US embassy, the likely target of the three Katyusha rockets.
After an hour, we are told it is safe enough to come out. One rocket fell into the nearby Tigris river, but two landed inside the embassy compound.
“This isn't the first and won't be the last,” says Pari, a 42-year-old civilian, who lives and works at the base as a hairdresser to support her daughters back home in Kyrgyzstan.
She used to work at the US base in the Afghan capital, Kabul, but left because it was too dangerous.
Everyone told her she would have a calmer life in Baghdad, but two rockets hit the street near the embassy on her first night there.
Watershed moment
Since October 2019, more than 109 Katyusha rockets have been launched at locations housing US troops in Iraq.
The coalition says Iran-backed paramilitary groups are…
