Iraq: Rockets target US-led coalition base in Erbil
October 1, 2020
Just hours after Iraq's government pledged to protect overseas missions in the country, a series of rockets were launched at a US base in Iraqi Kurdistan. The rockets were intercepted and caused no damage.
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Several rockets believed to be targeting US troops were launched near Erbil airport in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq on Wednesday, a Kurdish security agency said.
The attack in Erbil, a rare target for rockets, is considered a serious escalation by Iraqi officials and it came hours after Iraq's prime minister had pledged to improve protection of foreign missions in his country.
"Six rockets were launched from the borders of the Sheikh Amir village in Nineveh province by the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) who were targeting coalition forces in Erbil International Airport," Iraqi Kurdistan's counterterrorism service said.
The PMF are an umbrella group composed of mostly Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias that is part of Iraq's armed forces.
According to the statement, the missiles were intercepted and did not cause any major damage. But one of the rockets is said to have hit the headquarters of an Iranian-Kurdish opposition party that is banned in Iran, the Iraqi Kurdistan's counterterrorism service said.
US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for the US-led coalition, confirmed that initial reports indicated that indirect fire did not land on coalition forces in Erbil.
"There was no damage or casualties. Incident is under investigation," he wrote on Twitter.
US threatens to close embassy
The US-led coalition currently maintains a troop presence on a base inside Ibril airport, while the country's diplomatic compound is located in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.
The compound has been regularly targeted by rockets and as the frequency of those attacks has increased, the US has threatened to close the embassy unless decisive action was taken to reign in Shiite militias suspected of attacking it.
Kurdish officials, and former Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, said Wednesday's rocket incident in Erbil was ''yet another escalation'' to undermine security in the country by ''the same groups who are attacking the US embassy in Baghdad and its convoys. Action is needed to stop it.''
An enduring conflict — 40 years since start of Iran-Iraq war
The Iran-Iraq war is one of the deadliest military conflicts in the Middle East. The eight-year-long conflict, which saw the use of chemical weapons, killed thousands of people and divided the region on sectarian lines.
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A territorial dispute
On September 22, 1980, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent troops into neighboring Iran, starting an eight-year-long deadly war that killed thousands of people. The conflict started with a territorial dispute between the two Shiite majority countries.
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The Algiers accord
Five years earlier, in March 1975, Hussein, then Iraq's vice president, and the Shah of Iran signed a deal in Algiers to settle the border dispute. Baghdad, however, accused Tehran of plotting attacks and called for the evacuation of three strategic islands in the Strait of Hormuz, claimed by both Iran and the UAE.
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A key water source
On September 17, 1980, Baghdad declared the Algiers accord null and void and demanded control of all of the Shatt al-Arab — a 200-kilometer-long (125 mile) river formed by the meeting of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which flows into the Gulf.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/N. al-Jurani
Bombing of ports and cities
Hussein's forces bombed Iranian airports, including the one in Tehran, as well as military facilities and Iran's oil refineries. Iraqi forces met little resistance in the first week and seized the towns of Qasr-e Shirin and Mehran, as well as Iran's southwestern port of Khorramshahr, where the Shatt al-Arab meets the sea.
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Common enemy
Many Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, backed Baghdad in the war against Iran, fearing that the Islamic Revolution spearheaded by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini could influence the Shiite population in the Middle East. Western countries, too, supported Baghdad and sold weapons to Hussein's regime.
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Iran pushes back
Iran's counterattack took Iraq by surprise as Tehran managed to take back the control of the Khorramshahr port. Baghdad announced a ceasefire and pulled back troops, but Tehran rejected it and continued to bomb Iraqi cities. From April 1984, the two sides engaged in a "war of the cities," in which some 30 cities on both sides were battered by missile attacks.
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Chemical weapons
One of the highlights of the Iran-Iraq war was Baghdad's use of chemical weapons on Iran. Tehran first made the accusation in 1984 — confirmed by the UN — and then again in 1988. In June 1987, Iraqi forces dropped poison gas canisters on the Iranian town of Sardasht. In March 1988, Iran claimed that Baghdad used chemical weapons against Iraqi citizens in the town of Halabja.
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Truce
On July 18, 1988, Khomeini accepted a UN Security Council resolution to end the war. While the exact number of those killed in the war is not known, at least 650,000 people died during the conflict. A ceasefire was declared on August 20, 1988.
Image: Sassan Moayedi
A new chapter
The toppling of Hussein's regime by the US in 2003 ushered in a new era in the Middle East. Relations between Iraq and Iran have improved since then and the two countries increasingly cooperate economically, culturally and socially.
