Dubai, United Arab Emirates/Baghdad, Iraq
Reuters
An Iranian missile strike on targets in northern Iraq set off an unusual dispute between the neighbouring allies on Tuesday, with Baghdad recalling its ambassador in protest and Tehran insisting the attack was intended to deter threats from Israeli spies.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards hit what they called an Israeli espionage centre in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Iranian media reported late on Monday, while the elite force said they also struck in Syria against the Islamic State.
A view of a damaged building following missile attacks, in Erbil, Iraq, on 16th January, 2024. PICTURE:: Reuters/Azad Lashkari
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PAKISTAN SAYS IRAN VIOLATED AIRSPACE, KILLING TWO CHILDREN
Pakistan said neighbouring Iran has violated its airspace resulting in the death of two children, hours after Iranian state media said missiles targeted two bases of militant group Jaish al Adl on Tuesday.
Islamabad warned that the incident could have “serious consequences” and was “completely unacceptable” in a statement released by Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson in the early hours of Wednesday.
Iran’s foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Jaish al Adl has previously mounted attacks on Iranian security forces in the border area with Pakistan.
“These bases were hit and destroyed by missiles and drones,” Iranian state media reported earlier, without elaborating.
Iran’s Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, said the attacked bases were in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Pakistan’s statement did not mention the location of the incident, nor the nature of the airspace violation, but said it had lodged a protest with Tehran and the head of the Iranian mission in Islamabad had been called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” Pakistan’s statement said, adding that the incident had occurred despite the existence of several channels of communication with Iran.
The Pakistani military’s public relations wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– GIBRAN NAIYYAR PESHIMAM, Karachi, Pakistan/Reuters
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The strike appeared likely to deepen worries about worsening instability across the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas started on 7th October, with Iran’s allies also entering the fray from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
There has also been concern that Iraq could again become a theatre for regional conflict after a series of US strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq’s formal security forces. Those strikes came in response to dozens of attacks on US forces in the region carried out since 7th October.
The Guards said the late Monday attack, Iran’s first direct military strike in the region linked to the Gaza war, was in response to Israeli “atrocities” against several of its commanders and those of Iranian-allied forces around the Middle East since the conflict started.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said the attack was “clear aggression” against Iraq and a dangerous development that undermined the strong relationship between Tehran and Baghdad, state media reported.
He said Iraq reserved its right to take all legal and diplomatic measures granted to it by its sovereignty.
In protest, Iraq recalled its envoy from Tehran and summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Baghdad.
The strike, on a residential area near the US consulate in Kurdistan’s capital Erbil, was described by Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani as a “crime against the Kurdish people” in which at least four civilians were killed and six injured.
Multi-millionaire Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and several family members were among the dead, killed when at least one rocket crashed into their home, Iraqi security and medical sources said.
Iraq National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji denied the house was an Israeli spy centre.
“To respond to the claim that there is a Mossad headquarters we visited the place and toured every corner of this house, and everything indicates that it is a family house belonging to an Iraqi businessman from Erbil,” he told reporters.
“Reckless”
Israeli Government spokesperson Avi Hayman said he would not speculate, when asked at a press briefing about Iran’s assertion that it struck a Mossad site.
“What I will say is Iran continues to use its proxies to attack Israel on multiple fronts. We condemn Iran’s activities and we call on the international community to stand up in defiance of Iran and call for peace in the region,” he said.
Defending the attack, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries but it was Iran’s “legitimate right to deter national security threats”.
In addition to the Erbil strike, the Guards said they fired ballistic missiles in Syria and destroyed “perpetrators of terrorist operations” in Iran, including the Islamic State.
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Islamic State claimed responsibility for two explosions in Iran this month that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani.
France accused Iran of violating Iraq’s sovereignty and Washington condemned the attacks as “reckless”. US officials said no US facilities were hit and there were no US casualties.
Iran, which supports Hamas in its war with Israel, accuses the US of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza. The US has said it backs Israel in its campaign but has raised concerns about the number of Palestinian civilians killed.
Iran has in the past carried out strikes in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, saying the area is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups as well as agents of its arch-foe Israel.
Baghdad has tried to address Iranian concerns over separatist groups in the region, moving to relocate some members as part of a security agreement reached with Tehran in 2023.
– Additional reporting by AHMED RASHEED in Baghdad and Jerusalem bureau
