SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Sunday the aggression on Erbil was an attack on the security of Iraqi people.
“The aggression which targeted the dear city of Erbil and spread fear amongst its inhabitants is an attack on the security of our people,” Kadhimi said in a tweet.
“I discussed these developments with the KRG PM. Our security forces will investigate and stand firm against any threats towards our people,” he added, referring to Kurdistan Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
Twelve ballistic missiles were launched from outside Iraq toward the new building of the U.S. Consulate-General in Erbil early on Sunday, according to the Region’s ministry of interior.
A U.S. official told Reuters that the attack was launched from Iran.
The attack caused no casualties but damages to the buildings near the area, according to the interior ministry. One civilian was slightly wounded.
Iraq’s Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose political movement won the October parliamentary elections, tweeted: “Erbil is under fire… as if Kurds were not Iraqis”.
“They [Kurds] are the lungs of Iraq and they are indivisible part.”
A U.S. State Department spokesperson called it an “outrageous attack” but said no Americans were hurt and there was no damage to U.S. government facilities in Erbil, according to Reuters.
U.S. forces stationed at Erbil’s international airport complex have in the past come under fire from rocket and drone attacks that U.S. officials blame on Iran-aligned militia groups, but no such attacks have occurred for several months.
The last time ballistic missiles were directed at U.S. forces was in January 2020 — an Iranian retaliation for the U.S. killing earlier that month of its military commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.
No U.S. personnel were killed in the 2020 attack but many suffered head injuries.
Iraq and neighboring Syria are regularly the scene of violence between the United States and Iran. Iran-backed Shia militias have attacked U.S. forces in both countries and Washington has on occasion retaliated with air strikes.
An Israeli air strike in Syria on Monday killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state media said this week. The IRGC vowed to retaliate, it said.
