IRGC claims deadly ballistic missile strikes on Erbil

Julian Bechocha

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) early Tuesday claimed responsibility for a massive ballistic missile attack on the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil that killed at least four civilians, claiming to have hit “spy headquarters” of anti-Iran groups in the Region. 

“In response to the recent terrorist crimes of the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the spy headquarters and gatherings of anti-Iran groups in parts of the Region were targeted by IRGC ballistic missiles in the middle of the night,” IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency cited a statement by the group as saying. 

The sounds of loud bangs and explosions across Erbil city around 11:36 pm on Monday frightened thousands of residents, and at least five ballistic missile struck near Erbil-Pirmam road and Erbil International Airport, according to Rudaw's reporters on the ground. The strikes come at a time when several top IRGC commanders were killed by Israel in Syria.

At least four civilians were killed and 17 injured as the missiles struck, Rudaw has learnt. Heavy material damages were inflicted on residences near Pirmam road. 

Erbil International Airport sources confirmed to Rudaw that all inbound and outbound flights from the airport had been suspended. 

“This is a terrorist attack, an inhumane act that has been carried out against Erbil. Erbil will not be scared or shaken,” Governor Omed Khoshnaw told reporters near the site of the strikes on Pirmam road. 

Peshraw Dizayee, a well-known Kurdish businessman and the owner of Falcon Group which runs major projects such as Empire World, succumbed to his injuries alongside four of his family members around 1:00 am on Tuesday after his house was struck by a missile, former deputy speaker of the Kurdistan Region parliament Hemin Hawrami confirmed on X. 

 

 

 

In a later statement on early Tuesday, the IRGC claimed that "three Mossad bases" were targeted in the Erbil bombardments, despite the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) having categorically rejected the presence of Israeli intelligence in the Kurdistan Region. 

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani last week said that the Region will not become a “source of threat” to Iran, amid threats by the IRGC to launch attacks on Erbil for allegedly housing secret Mossad bases. 

In late December, KRG spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani reiterated that there are no Israeli bases in the Kurdistan Region, a day after a pro-Iran militia claimed it had struck an Israeli base in Erbil with a drone.

In March of 2022, Iran attacked Erbil with twelve ballistic missiles, 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 the area attacked.

Iran-aligned militia groups have struck bases of the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria with drones and rockets over 100 times since October 17 in retaliation to Washington’s support for Israel in its war in Gaza.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran and affiliated with the IRGC claimed responsibility for the attacks.  A military base housing international troops near Erbil’s airport on the northwestern edge of the city and Harir airbase some 50 kilometers to the northeast are frequent targets.

The US has responded on several occasions, sparking an outcry from the Iraqi government and calls from hardline Iraqi politicians to expel the coalition forces from the country.  

Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against ISIS, which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively.