ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Saturday called on the Iraqi government to avoid involvement in the Middle East’s tensions.
The KDP’s central committee, headed by leader Masoud Barzani, met on Saturday to discuss the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections, as well as recent developments in the region.
“We hope that the region's ongoing issues and conflicts, which are developing daily, can be resolved through dialogue without the use of threats or weapons. We also urge Iraq to stay away and avoid being involved in the tensions, as Iraq’s situation is highly sensitive with serious challenges ahead,” read a statement issued after the meeting.
Early Saturday morning, Israel launched pre-down airstrikes targeting Iranian military sites. Iran claimed that Israel’s missiles targeting the capital Tehran, the western province of Ilam, and southwestern province of Khuzestan were “intercepted” and that the damage was “limited,” reported the state-owned IRNA news agency.
Four soldiers were killed, according to the Iranian army.
The general staff of the Iranian armed forces claimed that Israel used airspace provided by the United States inside Iraq to carry out some of its strikes.
Iraq has condemned the attack.
“The occupying Zionist entity continues its aggressive policies and widening the conflict in the region through blatant attacks that it carries out with impunity,” read a statement from Iraqi government spokesperson Basem al-Awadi.
He rebuked out the international community for its “silence” on Israel’s “brutal actions” and called for “comprehensive regional and international efforts to support stability in the region.”
Israel said the strikes were in response to Iran’s attacks in the past.
Iran has directly attacked Israel twice. The first time was in April when Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones in retaliation for a deadly strike on its embassy that Tehran blamed on Israel. The second time was on October 1 in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and an IRGC commander.
Following that attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran had made a “big mistake and it will pay for it.”
Tensions between the arch rivals escalated after the Palestinian Hamas movement carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, sparking an ongoing war that has spread to Lebanon.
