ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq should not become an arena for competition at the cost of civilian lives, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday, adding that impunity for Tehran’s killing of civilians will lead to more attacks in the future.
“Regardless of Iranian claims about the attack, these killings follow a long history of Revolutionary Guard assassinations in residential areas of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that have targeted civilians” HRW’s Iraq researcher Sarah Sanbar said on Monday, adding that impunity for Tehran’s killing of civilians will “only embolden more unlawful attacks in the future.”
Multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones were directed at Erbil by Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on January 15.
A number of the rockets landed on the private residence of Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee, flattening his house, killing him and his one year old daughter, and severely wounding other members of his family.
“Iraq should not become an arena for foreign competition at the expense of civilians’ lives and the country’s stability,” the HRW researcher said. “Doing so only increases the risk of regional escalation, destruction, and killings.”
Iraq: Iranian Attack Kills Civilians in Erbil https://t.co/DGckPivmth
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) January 22, 2024
Shortly after the attacks, the IRGC claimed responsibility for the attacks, adding that they had targeted an Israeli intelligence spot in Erbil, a claim that has been refuted by Iraqi and Kurdish officials repeatedly.
Iran has continuously attacked the Kurdistan Region under different pretexts, at times Tehran has blamed the Region for housing Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups, other times they have claimed that the Region houses Israeli Intelligence.
“We inspected on the ground, accompanied by members of the investigation committee, the home of the businessman targeted last night in Erbil, and it became clear that the allegations about targeting a Mossad headquarters were unfounded,” Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qasem al-Araji said in a tweet following his visit to the site of the attack.
أطلعنا ميدانيا وبرفقة أعضاء اللجنة التحقيقية، على منزل رجل الأعمال المستهدف ليلة امس في أربيل، وتبين أن الإدعاءات التي تتحدث عن إستهداف مقر للموساد لا أساس لها من الصحة. نواصل الاجتماعات مع الأجهزة الأمنية في إلاقليم، وسنرفع التقرير للقائد العام المحترم
— قاسم الاعرجي (@qassimalaraji) January 16, 2024
Iraq on Tuesday filed a complaint to the UN Security Council about Iran’s aggression on Erbil.
“We are using dialogue, and they are using rockets, we are using negotiation as an approach to solve a problem and they are using different methods,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in a panel organized by the Kurdish House in Davos on Wednesday.
Read more: Iran responds to dialogue with rockets: Iraqi FM
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