A man inspects the damage at home following an overnight attack in Erbil on March 13, 2022. Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Residents of Erbil awoke to news of Iran's overnight missile attack on the Kurdistan Region’s capital, which caused significant material damage to civilian properties and triggered panic among those affected by the attack.
Under the pretext of hitting an Israeli base, a dozen ballistic missiles targeted the US consulate building in Erbil early Sunday morning, landing in nearby residential neighborhoods.
One of the 12 ballistic missiles targeting Erbil landed about two kilometers away from Hiwa Aziz’s house in Mala Omer residential compound.
"We were sitting in a room at the back of our house. The sound [of missiles] was so annoying. We did not know where they were coming from or what they were. They were all one after another,” Hiwa Aziz told Rudaw.
Hours after the missiles landed on the northeastern part of the city, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the Erbil attack which it said was launched in retaliation for the killing of two high-ranking IRGC officers by Israeli airstrikes in Syria last week.
"Following the recent crimes of the fake Zionist regime and as it was previously announced [by us] that the crimes will not go unanswered, last night the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy and evil was targeted with a point-to-point missile," the IRGC said in a statement referring to the Erbil attack.
Reeling from the shock of the attack is Enas Omer, who has sought refuge in Erbil for about 15 years now.
The missiles landed in close proximity to her house as Omer feared for her children’s lives.
“It was a powerful bombing. Our house became a piece of fire and smoke," she recounted of the missile attack.
"Missiles after missiles were exploding. They were so fast that we did not even manage to run outside. They were like 10, 11, or 12 missiles which landed one after another in 20 minutes."
According to data from Erbil authorities, at least 100 households and shops located around the new US consulate compound, which is still under construction, were damaged in the attack.
At least four missiles hit the property of Baz Karim Barzinji’s house, the founder and CEO of the Iraqi-Kurdish oil company KAR Group, injuring one of his security guards.
A taxi driver passing by Karim’s house was also injured.
The IRGC said they were once again warning "the criminal Zionist regime that the repetition of any evildoing will face harsh, decisive and destructive responses."
However, Erbil’s governor Omed Khoshnaw on Sunday categorically denied the presence of Israeli bases, calling all claims that the attack targeted Israeli positions “baseless.”
Later on Sunday, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani and influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to form a committee to investigate the claims behind the existence of an Israeli base in Erbil, with Sadr issuing a separate response calling for the so-called Israeli locations to be investigated as soon as possible “so that it cannot be used as an excuse to disturb the security of Iraq and its people.”
The missile attack was met with harsh condemnation by Erbil, Baghdad, Turkey, Jordan, and the western diplomatic missions serving in the Kurdistan Region. Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani condemned what he called a "cowardly and unwarranted missile attack that targeted the people, peace and stability of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region."
Reporting by Farhad Dolamari
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