Iraq on Tuesday condemned “aggression” against its sovereignty following Iranian missile attacks on autonomous Kurdistan. Tehran defended a “targeted” operation that specifically targeted a suspected Israeli intelligence site in an explosive regional context.
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These night attacks, which according to Kurdish sources killed “four civilians” in northern Iraq, come against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since October 7.
Iran's official IRNA news agency said the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic's ideological army, had carried out an attack on the outskirts of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region.
According to her, ballistic missiles destroyed “a headquarters” from which Israel's intelligence services operated – which did not immediately respond to these allegations.
In Baghdad, the State Department condemned “an aggression aimed at the sovereignty of Iraq and the security of its people.”
‼️[ 🇮🇶 IRAK | 🇮🇷 IRAN | 🇺🇸ÉTATS-UNIS ]
🔸Several explosions were heard this evening in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran has just claimed responsibility for the attack. According to several witnesses, American targets may have been targeted by the Revolutionary Guards. pic.twitter.com/33id0jVfJ6
— (Small) Think Tank (@L_ThinkTank) January 15, 2024
He asked the Iranian chargé d'affaires to deliver him a “letter of protest” and recalled his ambassador to Tehran “for consultations.”
Iraq is already gripped by regional tensions caused by the war in Gaza, stoking fears of a conflagration between the two camps' allies.
Baghdad, an important ally of Tehran but also a partner of the USA, has to perform a balancing act: Pro-Iranian armed groups are carrying out attacks on American soldiers in Iraq and Syria.
Israeli “spies”
Authorities said at least “four civilians” were killed and six injured in the attacks in Erbil.
Among the dead were a real estate tycoon, Peshraw Dizayee, the head of a company active in the oil sector and private security, and other members of his family: their homes were directly hit.
During the night, the Revolutionary Guards assured that they had destroyed one of the headquarters of “spies of the Zionist regime (Mossad),” according to Irna.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qassem al-Aaraji, who is responsible for investigating the attacks, on Tuesday condemned “false allegations” regarding “the presence of a headquarters of the Israeli Mossad (editor's note)” in Erbil.
“We inspected the place and visited every corner of the house. Everything points to it being a businessman’s house,” Mr. Aaraji assured.
Iranian diplomacy defended a “precise and targeted operation” and ensured that it “identified” and “attacked” the headquarters of “criminals (…) who use precision weapons.”
This attack comes in response to recent operations in which Iranian or allied commanders were eliminated – and the Revolutionary Guards' reprisals “will continue until the last drop of martyrs' blood is avenged,” Irna said.
On January 2, an attack in Lebanon killed Hamas's number two, Saleh al-Arouri, and six other officials and leaders of the Palestinian movement. A few days later, Wissam Tawil, a senior military official in Lebanon's Hezbollah, was killed.
In late December, Tehran also accused Israel of eliminating Brigadier General Razi Mousavi, a key commander of the Quds Force, foreign operations and the elite Guardian unit, in Syria.
“Terrorist operations”
If Iraq criminalizes all contact with Israel, politicians and businessmen in Erbil are already accused of maintaining informal contacts with that country. But Kurdistan's official line denies any connection to Israel.
Prime Minister of Kurdistan Masrour Barzani met with American diplomacy chief Antony Blinken on Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting.
The Iraqi official castigated “unjustified and illegal attacks” and called on the international community “not to remain silent,” according to his services.
On Tuesday, several hundred people demonstrated in Erbil and waved flags of the autonomous region.
In addition, the Revolutionary Guards announced on their Sepah News website that they had “identified and destroyed the gathering places of commanders and key elements linked to recent terrorist attacks, particularly the Islamic State” (IS) in Syria.
They explained that this attack was carried out in “retaliation for the recent crimes of terrorist groups,” particularly in Kerman (South).
On January 3, a suicide attack was carried out there during a memorial ceremony near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, who was killed in an American strike in Iraq in January 2020.
The attack, claimed by ISIS, left about 90 dead and many injured.