TEHRAN —
Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday
condemned a rocket attack against Baghdad airport that took place the previous
day as an act that seeks to "destabilize" Iraq.
اضافة اعلان
Six rockets were fired Friday at the Iraqi
capital's airport, causing damage to one runway and two civilian planes but no
casualties. It was the latest in a string of attacks that the
US blames on
Iran-linked armed groups.
The attack was not immediately claimed.
Iran condemns "the targeting of Baghdad
airport" in an attack that aims to "destabilize" Iraq, foreign
ministry spokesman
Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.
"Such suspicious actions have created
insecurity and unrest in Iraq, paving the way for the ill-wishers and the
insurgents, and affecting the government's services to the Iraqi
citizens," he added.
The rockets fell around civil installations
at the airport, damaging an out of service Boeing 767 belonging to state-owned
Iraqi Airways.
The attack prompted
Kuwait Airways to
suspend its flights to Iraq, the airline said on Twitter.
Recent months have seen rocket and drone
attacks target the US embassy in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, a US
diplomatic facility at the airport and troops belonging to a US-led coalition
stationed at Iraqi bases.
Such attacks mounted after the US
assassinated the commander of the
Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards, Major General Qassem Soleimani, and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis,
in a January 2020 drone strike near Baghdad airport.
The attacks are rarely claimed but they are
routinely pinned on pro-Iran factions, who demand that US troops deployed to
help Iraqi forces fight Daesh extremists to leave the country.
The US-led coalition ended its combat
mission in Iraq in December, but has kept roughly 3,500 of its soldiers in the
country to offer training, advice and assistance to national forces.
Recent rocket attacks in Iraq have also come
amid a tense domestic political situation there.
Violence has lately targeted Iraqi
politicians and parties, mainly consisting of grenade attacks, but also
extending to one rocket assault near the home of a key politician, amid
tensions surrounding the formation of a new government.
An election in October saw the Fatah
(Conquest) Alliance, the political wing of pro-Iran ex-paramilitary coalition
Hashed Al-Shaabi, lose most of its seats. It alleged the polls were rigged.
"The Islamic republic of Iran has
always supported the establishment and maintenance of security in
Iraq ... and
supports the actions of the Iraqi government in ensuring stability,"
Khatibzadeh added.
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