Blinken: 'Anyone threatening US personnel... don't do it'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was working hard to ensure that the conflict in Gaza does not spread, during an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday.

Blinken landed in Baghdad on Sunday evening for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Iran-backed paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah issued a warning on Saturday night that Blinken's visit would be met with "an unprecedented escalation."

Rocket and drone attacks on US troops and its allies in Iraq and Syria have seen an uptick since war broke out on 7 October, according to US officials.

"It was very important to send a very clear message to anyone who might seek to take advantage of the conflict in Gaza to threaten our personnel here or anywhere else in the region: Don’t do it," Blinken told reporters in Baghdad.

Sudani has pledged to pursue the perpetrators of rocket attacks on three military bases in Iraq hosting international coalition advisers.

Blinken said that US officials were working to secure a humanitarian pause in Gaza, adding that 100 trucks of aid were moving into the besieged enclave, but that it was "grossly insufficient".