No casualties reported as a dozen ballistic missiles launched from outdoors Iraq hit the northern Kurdish regional capital Erbil, officers say.
A dozen ballistic missiles launched from outdoors Iraq have struck the nation’s northern Kurdish regional capital Erbil, Kurdish officers say, including there aren’t any casualties.
There was no fast declare of duty or additional particulars obtainable.
A US State Division spokesperson on Sunday referred to as it an “outrageous assault” however stated no People have been harm and there was no harm to US authorities services in Erbil.
Iraqi state TV quoted the semi-autonomous Kurdish area’s counterterrorism pressure as saying 12 missiles launched from outdoors Iraq hit Erbil. It was not instantly clear the place they landed.
The US forces stationed at Erbil’s worldwide airport complicated have prior to now come beneath fireplace from rocket and drone assaults that US officers blame on Iran-aligned armed teams, however no such assaults have occurred for a number of months.
The final time ballistic missiles have been directed at US forces was in January 2020 – an Iranian retaliation for the US killing earlier that month of its army commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.
No US personnel have been killed within the 2020 assault however many suffered head accidents.
Iraq and neighbouring Syria are commonly the scenes of violence between the US and Iran. Iran-backed Shia teams have attacked US forces in each international locations, and Washington has from time to time retaliated with air raids.
An Israeli air assault in Syria on Monday killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state media stated this week. The IRGC promised to retaliate, it stated.
Kurdish officers didn’t instantly say the place the missiles struck. A spokesperson for the regional authorities stated there have been no flight interruptions at Erbil airport.
Residents of Erbil posted movies on-line exhibiting a number of massive explosions, and a few stated the blasts shook their properties. The Reuters information company stated it couldn’t independently confirm these movies.
Iraq has been rocked by persistent instability for the reason that defeat of the ISIL (ISIS) group in 2017 by a free coalition of Iraqi, US-led and Iran-backed forces.
Since then, Iran-aligned teams have commonly attacked US army and diplomatic websites in Iraq, US and Iraqi officers say. Iran has denied involvement in these assaults.
Home politics has additionally fuelled violence.
Iraqi political events, most of which have armed wings, are at present in tense talks about forming a authorities after an election final October.
The highly effective Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has vowed to type a authorities that leaves out Iran’s allies and consists of Kurds and Sunnis.