BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister met with Kurdish officials on Monday and inspected the site of an Iranian missile attack near the American consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi was received by Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish-controlled region. The Iraqi premier also inspected damage caused by some 12 ballistic missiles that landed near the US consulate, which is new and unoccupied, and caused damage to a nearby local television channel.
Iran claimed responsibility for Sunday’s missile barrage, calling it retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard earlier last week.
No injuries were reported in the attack on the city of Irbil. But it marked a significant escalation between the US and Iran and upset Iraq’s leadership which called it a “violation of international law and norms” and summoned the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad in protest. Hostility between the US and Iran has often played out in Iraq, whose government is allied with both countries.
A government official in Baghdad said Al-Kadhimi’s visit to Irbil Monday was meant to express solidarity with the Kurdistan region and show support for its government.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the visit.
The United States also condemned the attack. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement the attack targeted a civilian residence in Irbil “without any justification.”
“We will support the Government of Iraq in holding Iran accountable, and we will support our partners throughout the Middle East in confronting similar threats from Iran,” he said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday called Al-Kadhimi and Barzani to express solidarity and denounce the attacks.
Iraqi PM inspects site of Iranian missile attack in north
https://arab.news/bsh5r
Iraqi PM inspects site of Iranian missile attack in north
- Al-Kadhimi was received by Masrour Barzani, PM of the semi-autonomous Kurdish-controlled region
- Iran claimed responsibility for Sunday’s missile barrage, calling it retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria
Helicopter crashes in Libya during medical evacuation, killing 3
- The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash
TRIPOLI: A helicopter has crashed in southeastern Libya, killing a medic and two crew members carrying out a medical evacuation, state media said Tuesday.
Libyan news agency LANA said the chopper went down overnight near an air base in the Kufra region about 60 kilometers north of the border between Libya and Chad.
The aircraft was attempting to evacuate a soldier who had been involved in a road accident in the desert, LANA said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known and it was unclear what happened to the injured soldier.
Libyan media reports said two foreign nationals were among those on board who were killed, but this was not confirmed by authorities.
The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash.
Libya remains split between the eastern administration and a UN-backed government in the west led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah. The LANA news agency is under the control of western authorities.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted following a 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
