In the late hours of Monday, Iran’s IRGC launched 10 ballistic missiles toward the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil, under the pretext of targeting “spy headquarters” of anti-Iran groups, killing at least four and wounding 17 others.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh, IRGC air force commander told Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday that while the place targeted in Erbil “outwardly looked like a villa” after the attacks it was allegedly revealed that it was “a concrete fortress used for espionage,” and what he referred to as “special terrorist operations.”
Hajizadeh said “advanced equipment in the two-story underground facility and the elements that needed to be eliminated were indeed eliminated.”
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has categorically rejected the presence of Israeli intelligence in the Kurdistan Region.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji on Tuesday stated on X that “the claims that a Mossad headquarter was targeted [in the attack] are baseless.”
The target in question was the house of Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee, the owner of Falcon Group which runs major projects such as Empire World, who later succumbed to his injuries.
Apart from Dizayee, the strike's victims include his eleven-month-old daughter, Zhina, a housekeeper, and Iraqi businessman Karam Mikhail, who was visiting his Kurdish friend. His older son, Roj, 25, lost a hand in the strike. Rawan, his other son, is slightly injured.
“The accusations [of espionage] shocked us more than the attacks did because Mr. Peshraw was not involved in political and partisan activities and had no ties with intelligence agencies. He was purely neutral,” Dizayee’s office told Rudaw, adding that other members of the family who were targeted by Iran as well, were also not involved in politics.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson of the Iranian foreign ministry on Tuesday said that the ballistic missile strike on Erbil was in line with Tehran's defense of its sovereignty, security, and the mission of "combating terrorism." The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to hand him a protest note in response to the attacks on the same day.
Monday’s deadly attack on Erbil was widely condemned by Kurdish and Iraqi officials and authorities, including the Iraqi foreign ministry which announced early Wednesday morning that Baghdad officially submitted a complaint against Iran to the UN Security Council, and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Baghdad, handing him a “protest note” condemning the attack, and its own ambassador to Tehran for “consultations in light of the recent Iranian attacks on Erbil.”
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani condemned the “cowardly attack” and called on the Iraqi government to take action. The Kurdistan Region Security Council described the strikes as a “blatant violation” of Iraq’s and the Kurdistan Region’s sovereignty.
Barzani lauded the stance of the Iraqi federal government as “worthy of praise”, during a press conference while attending the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos, and called on the international community to help bring an end to the attacks.
