Iraqi Foreign Minister Denies Israel's Mossad Intelligence Agency Operates in Kurdistan Region

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. (Wikimedia Commons/US Institute of Peace)

JAKARTA - Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Tuesday denied that there were any centers or facilities affiliated with the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, operating in Erbil, Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Foreign Minister Hussein's denial came after Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched strikes on several targets in Erbil, targeting what they said were the bases of anti-Iran spies and terrorist groups.

The IRGC attacked "civilian areas" in Erbil, including a house and all those killed and injured in the attack were Iraqi Kurds, he told CNN as reported on January 17.

The man who is also Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations condemned the attack, saying he considered it "aggression and a violation of international law."

Meanwhile, Iraq's Foreign Ministry said it had submitted complaints in the form of two identical letters to the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary-General, in connection with "Iran's missile aggression targeting Erbil City and causing innocent civilian casualties" and damage to public property and personal."

"This aggression constitutes a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the security of the Iraqi people," the statement said.

Foreign Minister Hussein said that tensions between Iran and Israel had an impact on Iraq.

"Iran did not want or could not attack Israel. They looked for victims around them, then attacked Erbil," said Hussein.

He added that the Iraqi people were "paying the price" for Iran's tensions with Israel, as well as with the United States.

Earlier, at least four civilians were killed and six others injured as a result of the IRGC's attack on Erbil on Monday, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council said on Tuesday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday launched ballistic missiles at what it said were Israeli intelligence agency Mossad's spy bases in northern Iraq, and at an "anti-Iran terror group" in Syria, raising tensions in the Middle East region.

Iranian forces said a midnight missile attack in Iraq destroyed Israel's "one of the main espionage bases" in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, in response to an Israeli strike that killed one of the IRGC's senior commanders.

"This headquarters has become a center for developing espionage operations and planning terrorist acts" in the region and Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Monday.

The IRGC also said it attacked several locations in Erbil and claimed it was targeting "sites of Iranian opposition groups."