Published: 13.03.2022 – 08:31
“Twelve ballistic missiles” struck Erbil and the American consulate in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. This was confirmed by the Kurdish security forces in a press release, assuring that these missiles were fired “outside the borders of Iraq, more precisely from the east.” The Revolutionary Guards say they have hit an Israeli “strategic center” in northern Iraq.
According to several specialized websites, 12 Fateh 110 tactical missiles were fired from the northwest of Iran, our correspondent in Iran points out. Siavos Ghazi. These missiles were aimed at two secret spy centers belonging to the Israeli Mossad. One of these centers was located near the American consulate. A State Department spokesman said “there was no damage or casualties at any U.S. government facility.” The “strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy and vice” was fired upon by powerful forward rockets from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the Guardians Sepah News website said in a statement.
The attack “threatens the stability of Iraq and the region,” according to a press release from the French Foreign Ministry, which refers to “attachment to the sovereignty of Iraq, as well as to its stability and the stability of autonomous Kurdistan.” inside”.
reprisals
According to state television, this is an act of retaliation for the death of two colonels of the Revolutionary Guards who were killed on Monday near Damascus in an Israeli strike. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who attended the funeral of these two colonels, said that Iran was going to take revenge. Apparently, these two colonels specialized in the production of high-precision missiles.
Either way, Iran appears to want to retaliate against Israeli attacks on its facilities in Syria, which could spark a spiral in relations between the two countries. Israel has repeatedly struck Iranian targets in Syria or attacked Iranian nuclear facilities or officials. It is also due to the fact that negotiations on nuclear issues are now deadlocked and may complicate the resumption of negotiations and an agreement on the Iranian nuclear file.
Local TV channel Kurdistan24, whose studios are located near the new premises of the US consulate, published on its social networks footage of its damaged offices, with collapsed sections of the false ceiling and broken glass. “We condemn this terrorist act against several sectors of Erbil, we call on the residents to remain calm,” the Prime Minister of Erbil said in a press release. Kurdistan, Masroor Barzani.
Consequences of regional tensions
In January 2020, Iran fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing US soldiers in retaliation for the assassination by Washington Iranian General Qasem Soleimani committed a few days earlier in Iraqi territory. Thus, in half an hour, 22 Iranian ground-to-ground missiles fell on the bases of Ain al-Assad (west) and Erbil (north).
Regional tensions and geopolitical uncertainty are regularly featured in Iraqi news. At the beginning of the year, there was a surge in rocket attacks and armed drones in the country. Tehran and several allied factions in the region marked the second anniversary of the deaths of General Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis, killed by a US drone.
In the end of January, six missiles were shelled at Baghdad International Airport, no casualties. In Erbil, the latest such attack dates back to September, when “armed drones” attacked the airport.
Iran Nuclear Talks Suspended
Sunday’s attack also came at a time when talks on Iranian nuclear power were ending. abruptly suspendedafter new demands from Moscow.
Written by Iran on the one hand and the US, China, France, Britain, Russia and Germany on the other, the pact was to prevent Tehran from acquiring an atomic bomb in exchange for the lifting of suffocating sanctions. its economy. But it collapsed in 2018 after Washington left, at the decision of Donald Trump, who reinstated his measures against Iran. In response, Iran was gradually freed from the restrictions placed on its nuclear program. Negotiations resumed after the election of Joe Biden to the White House.
(with AFP)