Iran on Saturday condemned the rocket fire the previous day against Baghdad International Airport and called the operation “act aimed at destabilizinghis Iraqi neighbor.
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“These suspicious actions create insecurity and unrest, which pave the way for enemies and insurgents in IraqIranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzadeh said in a statement. During the night, Kuwait Airways announced to suspend its flights to Iraq following this attack.
Six Katioucha-type rockets fell Friday at dawn on parking areas or runways at Baghdad International Airport, causing no casualties but damaging two empty airliners.
It is the latest in a string of attacks widely blamed by Washington on pro-Iran Iraqi factions. “This attack is an act aimed at destabilizing Iraq“, of which “Iran has always supported maintaining its security, development, progress and territorial integrity“said Mr. Khatibzadeh.
Never claimed, rocket attacks or booby-trapped drones regularly target American interests and the troops of the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq, where pro-Iran armed groups are demanding the departure of foreign troops stationed in three bases in the country.
On December 9, Iraq announced the “end of the combat mission” of the coalition, which nevertheless retains its personnel on Iraqi soil to continue a training and advisory role, with some 2,500 American soldiers and a thousand soldiers from coalition member countries.
The wave of attacks has intensified since the start of the year, as Iran and several allied groups in the region marked the second anniversary of the deaths of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mehdi al -Mouhandis, killed by US drone fire in Iraq on January 3, 2020.