Iranian Ballistic Missile Attacks On Iraqi Kurdistan And Syria Kill Four Civilians
At least four civilians are reported to be dead after Iranian ballistic missiles struck Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, and a village in northeastern Syria on Monday night. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed responsibility for the missile attacks.
Rudaw has identified two of the deceased as Peshraw Dizayee and his 11 month-old daughter. Dizayee was a well known businessman in Erbil, and was the owner of the Falcon Group, the developer of several major real estate projects in Erbil like Empire World.
Karam Mikhail, the owner of Rayyan al-Iraq Group, was also killed in the attack. He was said to have been attending a social gathering at Dizayee’s home, with one of Dizayee’s housekeepers also killed. 17 others are reported to have been injured in the attack, including Dizayee’s wife and two sons.
Syria’s Civil Defense reports that two civilians suffered minor injuries after a missile struck a disused medical center building in the village of Taltita in northern Idlib.
Other ballistic missiles are said to have triggered Syrian government air defense systems before impacting desert outside of Aleppo, but no corroborating reports have emerged from territory controlled by the Damascus regime.
After the attack, the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad said that it would pursue all legal measures against Iran for the attack, including filing a complaint to the United Nations Security Council.
On Tuesday, the Kurdistan Regional Government issued a statement condemning the attack:
“The continuous targeting of the Kurdistan Region and the tragic loss of civilian lives is an unjustifiable crime that goes against international law, the principles of neighborliness, and human values. It also represents a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, peace, and stability. The Kurdistan Region has never posed a threat to any party and never will.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ justification for this attack is completely false and unfounded. Therefore, we urge the Iraqi Federal Government to promptly initiate an investigation to uncover the truth and fulfil its responsibility to protect the Kurdistan Region, as well as to prevent such attacks in the future.”
The IRGC claimed that it had targeted a Mossad “headquarters” in Erbil with the attacks, with the locations targeted in Syria allegedly hosting facilities used to train Islamic State members that attacked a memorial event for Qasem Soleimani. No evidence was provided to support any of the claims.
Immediately after the attacks, it was rumored that the missiles that struck Erbil had targeted U.S. troops based in the city, and the American consulate there. The United States has denied that any American personnel or facilities were targeted or injured in the attack, with National Security Council spokesperson Adrianne Watson condemning the attack as “reckless and imprecise”.