Iran launched a dozen ballistic missiles on Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, on the night of Monday to Tuesday, killing four civilians and wounding at least six others. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that they were targeting Israeli espionage centers, but Iraq's Kurdish authorities have dismissed the Iranian justification as "baseless excuses" as the dead are a prominent Kurdish businessman and his associates, who had gathered for a family celebration. The United States has also condemned the "reckless and imprecise" Iranian attack, in a context of increased tension in the region.
The Revolutionary Guards first explained that their attack in Erbil targeted "anti-Iranian groups" and, hours later, claimed in another statement that the target was "one of the main headquarters of the Israeli spy agency Mossad in Iraqi Kurdistan." And that the attack has been carried out in response to the Israeli bombing that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Razi Mousavi last December when he was in Damascus, the Syrian capital, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
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After a night of meetings of regional authorities, Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani lashed out at the attackers: "I condemn in the strongest possible terms the cowardly attack on the people of the Kurdistan Region. I urge the federal government in Baghdad to take a principled stand against this blatant violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region." The Iraqi Kurdish leader assured that his government will begin working in the coming days with its international allies to "stop these brutal attacks" against its "innocent people".
Subsequently, the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Government of Iraq, in a statement, expressed its "severe condemnation of the Iranian aggression" and said it will take legal measures, including denouncing the facts to the UN Security Council. The ministry has summoned the chargé d'affaires of the Iranian embassy in Baghdad to convey a note of protest.
A man inspects the damage to a house after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards missile attack on Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, on January 16, 2024.SAFIN HAMID (AFP)
Iranian missiles began hitting areas north of Erbil shortly before midnight. Local media reported explosions around the airport, home to a U.S. military base and near which the U.S. consulate is located, though a National Security Council spokeswoman, Adrienne Watson, said no U.S. facilities or personnel had been hit. "We shot down two ballistic missiles using our anti-missile system without causing any damage," Abdullah Hama Rashid, head of special operations at the Kurdistan Defense Agency, told Rudaw television. Drones were also involved in the attack, and according to counter-terrorism units, three of them were shot down as they were preparing to attack the airport.
But the main target of the attack was the residence of billionaire businessman Peshraw Dzeyi, where a family reunion was being held because two of his sons studying in the United States had returned for a visit. Up to five missiles fell on the residence of the owner of the Falcon business group, with interests in construction and security, engulfing the building in flames and damaging several neighboring buildings. Dzeyi himself died an hour and a half after the bombing, a victim of the serious injuries he suffered. Another businessman friend of the family, identified by Rudaw as Karam Mikhail, also linked to the construction, was also killed. Four hours later, emergency services managed to rescue the lifeless body of Dzeyi's youngest daughter, who was not yet a year old. The fourth victim is a domestic worker of Filipino nationality. Among the injured who have been admitted to hospitals in Erbil are several of Dzeyi's relatives, including his wife, and another Filipino domestic worker.
Mashan al-Jabouri, a former member of the Iraqi parliament who is building a villa next to the attacked residence, explained on the social network X that he has known Dzeyi for two decades and is not related to Israel: "I bear witness before God and before the people that the late businessman and friend is not involved in politics, it has no connection to the Mossad and works solely in real estate development. If my house was complete and I lived in it, I too would be one of the victims of the missiles that Iran says targeted the Mossad headquarters."
Another view of the missile attack in Erbil. pic.twitter.com/rmYxrGTtaG
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) January 15, 2024
In addition to northern Iraq, during the night, Iran's Revolutionary Guards attacked some points in Syria with missiles. According to a statement, its targets were bases of "terrorist groups, especially Daesh [the Arab acronym for Islamic State]" responsible for the suicide bombing that left nearly 90 dead in the Iranian city of Kerman on January 3 — which was claimed by the jihadist organization — and the attack on a police station in the town of Rasak in December. which left 11 officers dead and is attributed to Jaish al-Adl, a Salafist group of the Baloch insurgency. On Monday morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani justified the attack in Erbil on his Telegram channel claiming that it is "in line with the defense of the country's sovereignty and security" and "the fight against terrorism" and that it is part of "a just punishment by the Islamic Republic against those who threaten the nation's security."
"Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps says the attack targeted the positions of Iranian opposition groups. Unfortunately, he always uses these baseless excuses to attack Erbil. Iraqi Kurdistan has never been a threat to any party," the autonomous region's Security Council said in a separate statement after an emergency meeting overnight.
Late last year, regional government spokesman Peshawa Hawramani stressed that there are no Israeli bases in Iraqi Kurdistan, after a pro-Iranian militia claimed to have hit a Jewish state base in Erbil in a drone strike. In March 2022, Iran launched a dozen missiles on the Kurdish capital, hitting the residence of another local businessman — causing no casualties — which the Revolutionary Guards identified as "a strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy." A commission of inquiry by Iraq's federal parliament found no evidence that he was involved in espionage activities. However, Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish sources confessed to Reuters thatthe reason for the attack was that the businessman was designing a plan for the export of gas to Turkey and Europe with the support of Israelis, a project considered by Iran contrary to its economic and geopolitical interests.
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