Iraqi parliament condemns strikes on security forces and Peshmerga as casualties mount

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Parliament Presidency condemned Tuesday’s attacks on security forces across multiple governorates and on Peshmerga forces in the Kurdistan Region, calling for a unified national stance as one of the most violent days of the regional war unfolded across the country.

“We condemn the attacks that targeted the headquarters of the security forces in several provinces, as well as the Peshmerga forces in the Kurdistan Region, which resulted in a number of martyrs and wounded,” the parliamentary presidency said in a statement.

“The targeting of security forces in all their forms is unacceptable and calls for a unified national stance that strengthens the protection of security institutions and maintains national unity in the face of challenges,” the presidency said, adding that Iraq must be spared “the repercussions of regional conflicts” and kept away from “any confrontation that does not serve its interests.”

Tuesday’s violence stretched from Erbil to Basra. Six Iranian ballistic missiles killed six Peshmerga fighters and wounded about 30 near Soran in Erbil governorate, with two still missing. An airstrike in Anbar killed PMF Anbar operations commander Saad Daway al-Baiji and 14 others, prompting Prime Minister Sudani to convene an emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security. Two airstrikes destroyed the PMF’s 31st Brigade headquarters in Baiji district, Salah Al-Din, wounding seven. Separate strikes hit PMF positions in Babil and Mosul. An airstrike on the Iranian side of the Shalamcheh border crossing near Basra wounded five truck drivers including two Iraqis.

Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani condemned the Soran strike as unjustifiable, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani called it “a direct hostile aggression against the sovereignty of the country,” and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the KRG “will take all measures to counter this hostility.”