Iraq's Kurdish capital hits by unknown Ballistic missiles

Iraq’s Kurdish capital hits by unknown Ballistic missiles: No casualties reported. 

Reuters: A dozen ballistic missiles fired from outside Iraq hit Erbil, Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital, on Sunday, Kurdish officials claimed, adding that no one was hurt.

According to Reuters, the strike was launched in Iran. Further information was not provided by the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility or additional information. However, it was an “outrageous attack,” according to a U.S. State Department official. 

But no Americans were injured, and no U.S. government facilities in Erbil were damaged.

According to official Iraqi television, 12 missiles fired from outside Iraq hit Erbil, according to the Kurdistan region’s counter-terrorism force. However, it wasn’t evident where they landed right away.

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U.S. forces stationed at Erbil’s international airport complex have been targeted by rocket and drone assaults blamed on Iran-aligned militias. Still, no such attacks have occurred in several months.

The last time ballistic missiles were fired at U.S. forces was in January 2020, in response to the U.S. execution of Iran’s military commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport earlier that month.

The 2020 attack did not result in any U.S. servicemen being killed. Still, it did result in a large number of head injuries.

The United States and Iran frequently engage in hostilities in Iraq and neighboring Syria. 

Iran-backed Shi’ite Islamist militias have assaulted U.S. forces in both nations. The U.S. has replied with air attacks on several occasions.

Iranian state media said this week that two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed in an Israeli air attack in Syria on Monday. The IRGC has promised to retaliate, according to the report.

Officials from the Kurdish government did not immediately say where the missiles hit. However, according to a regional authority official, there were no flight delays at Erbil airport.

Residents in Erbil shared videos of multiple massive explosions on social media, with some claiming that the booms shook their homes. 

However, these videos could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Since a loose coalition of Iraqi, US-led, and Iran-backed forces defeated the Sunni Islamist extremist Islamic State in 2017, Iraq has been wracked by chronic instability.

According to U.S. and Iraqi authorities since then, Iran-aligned militias have attacked U.S. military and diplomatic locations in Iraq daily. Iran claims it had nothing to do with the assaults.