Iraq lodges UN complaint over Israel using its airspace to attack Iran

AFP , Monday 28 Oct 2024

Iraq has condemned Israel's use of its airspace to attack neighbouring Iran in a protest letter sent to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, Baghdad said Monday.

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Iraqi students walk past the flags of Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq, hanging on the side of a mosque in the capital Baghdad. AFP

 

A statement from government spokesman Bassim Alawadi said the letter condemns "the Zionist entity's blatant violation of Iraq's airspace and sovereignty by using Iraqi airspace to carry out an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on October 26".

Alawadi said the Iraqi foreign ministry would also bring up "this violation" in talks with the United States, Israel's close ally and top arms provider.

The Iranian military said that some Israeli aircraft had fired a "small number of long-range missiles... from a distance", inside the US-patrolled airspace of Iraq.

Baghdad has close ties with Tehran but also a strategic partnership with Washington, which has troops in Iraq as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.

While the Iraqi government has sought to avoid being dragged into the escalating regional conflict, some Iraqi armed factions have launched attacks on US forces in the region and claimed responsibility for drones sent to Israel.

The influential Kataeb Hezbollah group , condemned on Sunday the Israeli use of Iraqi airspace to attack Iran as a "dangerous precedent".

It accused the United States of being complicit in the Israeli attack, warning both of a response to this "aggression".

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