President Masoud Barzani condemns Iranian attacks

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – President Masoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Wednesday condemned the Iranian attacks that resulted in civilian causalities, according to a statement.

Barzani said the repeated Iranian attack are violations of “the principles of good neighborliness, friendship, and sovereignty”, a statement from his office read.

“It is a crime,” the Kurdish leader said, condemning the attacks as they have resulted in civilian causalities, including innocent women and children.

He asked for the immediate cease of the strikes, adding the Kurdistan Region should not be a battlefield for settling the “domestic disputes” of the neighboring countries, per the statement.

As a result of the attacks, at least nine people have been killed and 32 others were wounded, according to the Region’s health chief, expecting the death toll to rise as some of the injured people are in “critical conditions.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the attacks, targeting numerous positions of the Kurdish opposition groups in both the Sulaimani and Erbil provinces.

The strikes drew international condemnation.

“Rocket diplomacy is a reckless act,” the United Nations mission in Iraq said in a statement.

The diplomatic representations of Germany and the UK in Erbil similarly condemned the attacks.

Iranian artillery repeatedly shelled Erbil province’s border areas in the past five days.

The attacks come as protests over the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish girl Mahsa (Zhina) Amini are ongoing in more than 90 Iranian cities, including the Kurdish majority areas. More than 70 protestors have been killed so far, according to the figures released by an Oslo-based Iranian rights watchdog.