File image.
Early on March 13, a number of heavy missiles struck the outskirts of Erbil city, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
Some Iraqi news sources said that the target of the missile strike was the US Consulate. Others, however, speculated that the target was a US military installation in Erbil International Airport, the US Harir Air Base or the Zerin residential complex which is frequented by American troops.
Videos from the scene of the strike show direct impacts and a large explosions with several columns of smoke rising from the target.
CRAM and Patriot 💤 pic.twitter.com/iVt4UzMa2H
— ZOKA (@200_zoka) March 12, 2022
Iran directly targets Americans at Erbil pic.twitter.com/e3ibiExTHh
— ZOKA (@200_zoka) March 12, 2022
Another angle showing 6, most likely Fateh-110 Iranian missile impacting area around US consulate building in Erbil. pic.twitter.com/hGekGsOxXP
— ZOKA (@200_zoka) March 12, 2022
Iranian activists shared footage claiming to show the launch of a number of Fateh-110 tactical short-range ballistic missiles from a base in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah just a few minutes before the explosions were heard in Erbil. The footage is yet to be verified.
#عاجل
اولى الصور من اطلاق صواريخ بالستية من القاعدة الصاروخية في محافظة كرمانشاه الايرانية على قاعدة الامريكان في اربيل العراق… pic.twitter.com/bqbJfGUcAd— Iranian military arabic (@iranianmil_ar) March 12, 2022
Iran fired ballistic missiles at the Kurdistan Region before. However, the target was Iranian Kurdish anti-government guerrilla groups.
The new missile strike may have been a response by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the March 7 Israeli airstrikes on the Syrian capital, Damascus. The attack claimed the lives of two officers of the guards, colonels Ehsan Karbalaipour and Morteza Saidnejad.
On October 20, pro-Iranian forces attacked the US al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syrian in response to the October 13 Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. A number of Iranian-backed fighters were killed or wounded in the airstrikes.
The missile strike on Erbil could trigger a response from the US. This would further complicate the international talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
