UPDATE - Iraqi protesters storm US Embassy in Baghdad

UPDATE WITH MORE INFO

By Haydar Karaalp

BAGHDAD (AA) - Outraged Iraqi protesters on Tuesday stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, protesting Washington's attacks on armed battalions belong to Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi forces.

At least 25 people were killed in weekend U.S. airstrikes on positions of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia group, in Iraq and Syria.

Hundreds of Iraqi protesters gathered early Tuesday near the embassy to show their anger at the U.S. attacks.

According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent at the scene, some Iraqi protesters set fire to the walls surrounding the embassy compound.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that prominent leaders of the Hashd al-Shabi factions were leading the protests, while protesters began erecting sit-in tents in front of the embassy compound.

Three eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the leaders Hadi al-Amiri and Qais al-Khazali were leading the protests.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the weekend attacks, calling them “a clear violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”

"Iraq is an independent country,” said a ministry statement, adding that it will not allow Iraq to be turned into “a battlefield or a crossing point for an attack, or its territories to be used to target neighboring countries."

The U.S. ambassador in Baghdad will be summoned to deliver the statement to his superiors, said the statement.