Iran’s elite IRGC in the late hours of Monday targeted the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil with at least ten ballistic missiles under the pretext of targeting “spy headquarters” of anti-Iran groups and Mossad bases in the Region. The strikes killed at least four civilians and injured 17 others, resulting in heavy material damage affecting residences near Erbil-Pirmam road.
“We hit a Mossad base in one spot in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and we hit it with precision missiles. This does not mean we hit and targeted Iraq, we targeted Israel, which remains a common enemy for the both of us,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks were vehemently denied by his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, who referred to the attack “not acceptable” and an “aggression,” categorically denying the presence of Israeli intelligence in the Kurdistan Region.
“Our language with the Iranian [side] was and is to keep this friendly relationship, but it will be impossible for us to accept aggression,” Hussein said on the sidelines of the same forum. “We are using dialogue and they are using rockets.”
“Leaders of security organizations inside Iran, they feel like they cannot manage or control their security, therefore they are trying to export the problem to outside the country. One of the areas which they are talking about, they are attacking, is Iraqi Kurdistan,” he said.
Hussein also revealed that he had met with ministers in the Arab league who will issue a “strong condemnation” by all Arab countries against the Iranian strikes.
The league later adopted a resolution condemning the Iranian aggression as a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and holding Tehran accountable for all the consequences of the attack, according to an Iraqi foreign ministry statement.
As a reaction to the strike, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani canceled their scheduled meetings with Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the forum, a well-informed source told Rudaw.
Speaking during a presser in Davos on Tuesday, Barzani condemned the “unjustifiable” attack by the IRGC, stressing that Erbil has always tried to maintain peaceful relations with neighboring countries. He labeled the allegations of Israel’s presence in the Region as “baseless.”
On Wednesday, Iraq’s foreign ministry announced that it had officially submitted a complaint against Iran to the United Nations Security Council about the attack, after summoning Iranian charge d’affaires in Baghdad to protest the IRGC aggression.
At least five of the missiles targeted the residence of Peshraw Dizayee, a well-known Kurdish businessman. Dizayee and his 11-month-old daughter were killed as a result of the attack.
“The attacks which happened a few days ago, and also the attack which happened about a year ago, is not acceptable,” Hussein said, referring to a similar IRGC attack on Erbil in March of 2022.
He was referring to a time when Iran attacked Erbil with twelve ballistic missiles, similarly striking the residence of a well-known Kurdish businessman. The IRGC claimed responsibility for targeting “the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy and evil by point-to-point missile.”
Kurdish authorities vehemently rejected this accusation. A fact-finding committee set up by the Iraqi parliament to investigate the claims found no evidence of spying activities.
In a Tuesday statement on X, Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said “the claims that a Mossad headquarter was targeted [in the attack] are baseless” after leading a high-level security delegation to Erbil to inspect the aftermath of the bombardment.
