Iran's first strike on Iraqi Kurdish forces since war began a warning to US allies
The deadly strike on Kurdish forces underscores Tehran’s readiness to pressure US partners as Erbil is caught between Iran, Baghdad and Washington.
Iran’s targeting of an Iraqi Kurdish military base in Erbil province early Tuesday, the first attack of its kind since the start of the war, was intended as the starkest warning yet to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to stop aiding the United States and Israel in their ongoing campaign to degrade and destroy the Iranian regime.
At least six peshmerga fighters were killed and more than 20 others were injured in two consecutive missile strikes on the 7th Division of the peshmerga forces in Erbil’s Soran district.
The president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, left no doubt as to the perpetrator, saying he strongly condemned “the Iranian missile attack that targeted the headquarters of peshmerga forces.”
KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, however, stopped short of blaming Iran for what he called a “hostile and traitorous” attack, highlighting the dilemma faced by the Kurdish region, which is squeezed between a hostile Iran and its close ally Baghdad. He called on Baghdad and the international community to “put an end to these attacks.”
