This handout photograph released and taken early on Jan. 16, 2024 by Kurdistan 24 broadcast news station shows firemen and security staff inspecting the rubble of a building at a site hit by a missile attack launched by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in Irbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region. (Credit: Kurdistan 24/AFP)
Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister
Masrour Barzani canceled a meeting with Iran's foreign minister
at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland in protest
over Iranian missile strikes on the Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil,
a source said on Wednesday.
Iran late on Monday struck Irbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, with ballistic missiles in what it said was an attack on an Israeli spy headquarters, claims vehemently denied by Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish officials.
The attack killed at least four people, including a prominent Kurdish businessman and his infant child.
The Iranian strikes have led to a rare diplomatic row with Iraq's government, with Baghdad filing a complaint against Iranian "aggression" at the United Nations Security Council and recalling its ambassador to Tehran.
Tehran has grown its influence in Iraq since the US toppled former ruler Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion in 2003, particularly among Shi'ite Muslim factions, while the Kurds have traditionally been closer to the West.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a Shiite, was brought to power with the backing of some pro-Iranian factions but has been keen to show his government opposes any infringement on Iraq's sovereignty.
Masrour Barzani canceled a meeting with Iran's foreign minister
at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland in protest
over Iranian missile strikes on the Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil,
a source said on Wednesday.
Iran late on Monday struck Irbil, the capital of Iraq's
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, with ballistic missiles in
what it said was an attack on an Israeli spy headquarters,
claims vehemently denied by Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish officials.
The attack killed at least four people, including a
prominent Kurdish businessman and his infant child.
The Iranian strikes have led to a rare diplomatic row with
Iraq's government, with Baghdad filing a complaint against
Iranian "aggression" at the United Nations Security Council...