Up to 12 missiles struck near a US consulate complex in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Sunday, with officials claiming the strike was launched from neighbouring Iran. No injuries were reported in the attack, which marked a significant escalation in hostility between the nations.
An Iraqi official in Baghdad initially said several missiles had hit the US consulate in Irbil and that it was the target of the attack. Later, Lawk Ghafari, the head of Kurdistan’s foreign media office, said none of the missiles had struck the US facility but that areas around the compound had been hit.
A US defence official said there had been no damage to any US government facility and that there was no indication the target was the consulate building, which is new and currently unoccupied. The attack came several days after Iran said it would retaliate for an Israeli strike near Damascus in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard.
On Sunday, Iran’s state-run Irna news agency quoted Iraqi media acknowledging the attacks in Irbil, without saying where they originated. The missile barrage also came as negotiations in Vienna over Tehran’s nuclear deal hit a “pause” amid Russian demands about sanctions targeting Moscow over its war on Ukraine.
Iraqi security officials said the ballistic missiles were fired from Iran, without elaborating. He said the projectiles were the Iranian-made Fateh-110, likely to have been fired in retaliation for the deaths of the two Revolutionary Guards in Syria.
Another US official said in a statement that the US condemned what it called an “outrageous attack against Iraqi sovereignty and display of violence”. US forces stationed at Irbil’s airport compound have come under fire from rocket and drone attacks in the past, with officials blaming Iran-backed groups.
Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish-controlled region, condemned the attack, saying in a Facebook post that Irbil “will not bow to the cowards who carried out the terrorist attack”.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
