ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani received a joint message of solidarity from European Union member states, which also offered condolences over the tragic killing of several Peshmerga fighters and the injury of nearly two dozen others earlier this week, the Region’s presidency reported on Friday.
In a statement, the presidency said that “the EU Liaison Office, along with the representatives and Consulates General of EU member states” in Kurdistan “expressed their profound condolences over the missile attack that targeted the Soran district in the early hours of Tuesday,” which “resulted in the martyrdom” of “six Peshmerga heroes” and the injury of 23 others.
The message, which was also addressed to Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, “voiced grave concern over the repeated attacks on the Kurdistan Region in recent weeks,” the statement added.
“The EU representatives reaffirmed their solidarity, as well as that of their respective countries, with the Kurdistan Region, underscoring their commitment to fostering peace and stability in the region.”
Six Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and more than 20 others wounded in missile strikes targeting a base in Erbil province early Tuesday.
The Tuesday attack came as the Kurdistan Region has, for weeks, been caught in the crosshairs of the Iran-Israel-US war, with Iraqi armed groups aligned with the Tehran-led ‘Axis of Resistance’ carrying out more than 450 strikes on alleged American targets in the Region since the onset of the conflict on February 28, according to Rudaw tracking.
The assaults persist despite repeated assurances from Kurdish leaders that the Region is not a party to the conflict and will not allow its territory to be used as a launchpad for attacks against neighboring countries, including Iran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday also condemned “the continued attacks by Iran and Iran-aligned Iraqi militias on U.S. citizens and energy infrastructure” across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and offered condolences for the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters killed and injured in Tuesday’s attack.
Speaking to Rudaw on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council’s US Syrian Energy Symposium in Washington DC on Thursday, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack condemned the attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups against the Kurdistan Region as “untenable.”
Barrack also relayed his country’s continued support to Erbil while criticizing the Iraqi government for failing to take stronger action to prevent such assaults amid the ongoing regional conflict.
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