Iranian missile strikes on Iraq trigger unusual row

Dubai/Baghdad — An Iranian missile strikes on targets in northern Iraq set off an unusual row 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.

The strike appeared likely to deepen worries about worsening Middle East instability since the Gaza war started on October 7, with Iran’s allies also entering the fray from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

There is also concern that Iraq could again become a theatre for regional conflict after a series of US strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are  part of Iraq’s formal security forces. Those strikes came in response to dozens of attacks on US forces in the region since October 7.

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.

In protest at the strike, Iraq recalled its envoy from Tehran and summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Baghdad, with the foreign ministry saying Baghdad would take all legal steps against what it called a violation of sovereignty.

Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani denounced the strikes on a residential area near the US consulate in Kurdistan’s capital Erbil as a “crime against the Kurdish people”. At least four civilians were killed and six injured.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos after the attack, Barzani said Iranian allegations of an Israeli espionage base were groundless.

Israeli government officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

Multimillionaire Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and several members of his family were among the dead, killed when at least one rocket crashed into their home, said Iraqi security and medical sources.

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 strikes in Kurdistan, the Guards said they “fired a number of ballistic missiles in Syria and destroyed the perpetrators of terrorist operations” in Iran, including the Islamic State.

‘Reckless’

Islamic State claimed responsibility for two blasts in Iran this month that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani.

The Guards said the attacks would continue “until avenging the last drops of martyrs’ blood”, referring to the killing of three Guards members last month in Syria, where they served as military advisers.

France accused Iran of violating Iraq’s sovereignty. Washington condemned the attacks as “reckless”, while US officials said no US facilities were struck and there were no US casualties.

Iran, which backs Hamas in its war with Israel, accuses the US of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza. The US says it backs Israel in its campaign but has raised concern about the Palestinian civilian death toll.

Iran has in the past struck in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, saying it is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups and by agents of its arch-foe Israel.

Baghdad has tried to address Iranian concern over separatist groups in the region, moving to relocate some members as part of a security agreement reached with Tehran in 2023.

Three armed drones were shot down early on Tuesday over Erbil airport, said Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias, claimed responsibility for similar previous attacks.

US and international forces based in Iraq and Syria have been on high alert amid dozens of attacks, mostly claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, over Washington’s backing of Israel in the Gaza war.

Reuters