‘Natural response from Iran:’ missile attack in Erbil
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The recent missile attack in Erbil is a “natural response from Iran” to the killing of two members of the Iranian forces in Syria last week, a spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) told Rudaw on Sunday.
Under the pretext of hitting an Israeli base, twelve ballistic missiles targeted the US consulate building in Erbil early Sunday morning, landing in residential neighborhoods, and injuring two civilians.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday afternoon claimed responsibility for targeting "the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy and evil by point-to-point missile," Iranian state media reported, without mentioning Erbil or the Kurdistan Region by name.
However, earlier in the morning the media outlet reported the incident as an attack targeting “Mossad [Israeli intelligence] bases in Erbil.”
The widely condemned attack came less than a week after Iran vowed to seek revenge against Israel, saying it will “pay the price” for the killing of two members of the IRGC in an airstrike in Syria as tensions between Iran and Israel surged since negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal began last year.
The US condemned the attack, saying that Iran "must be held accountable for this flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and for terrorist attacks on innocent civilian properties."
— U.S. Consulate General Erbil (@USConGenErbil) March 13, 2022
Spokesperson for the northern Iraqi axis of the PMF Ali al-Hosseini said the attack is a “natural response from Iran” following the killing of the two IRGC members.
“The Zionist [Israel] entity attacked senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guards [IRGC] in a country where they are officially present in Syria and at the request of the Syrian government,” Hosseini told Rudaw over WhatsApp.
The missile attack hit an area where “they [Iran] believe there is an American or foreign presence, and they have the right to respond to the Zionist entity at any point,” he added.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called on the international community to urgently investigate the “baseless attack.”
"Allegedly under the pretext of hitting an Israeli base near the US Consulate in Erbil, [the attack] targeted civilian locations and its justification is only to hide the disgracefulness of such offense. We reiterate that the propaganda of the perpetrators of this attack is far from true," read the statement.
"Iran has repeated these attacks many times, and the silence of the international community in the face of these cowardly attacks will pave the way for their continuation," it added.
Largely blamed on Iran-backed militia groups, the Kurdistan Region and Iraq have previously come under several rockets and drone attacks, with the airports and US bases being the main target.
There have been at least 30 reported rocket and drone attacks on bases and facilities housing US forces and personnel in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region last year, according to data compiled by Rudaw English.
However, ballistic missiles were last used on January 8, 2020, which Iran fired in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani.
Updated at 4:35 pm