Why the Erbil attack sent a message from Iran to Turkey

Ahval

Last week’s rocket attack on Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital of Erbil was believed to be a message from Iran-backed militias to the United States and Turkey. On February 15, fourteen rockets struck points across Erbil including residential neighbourhoods and the international airport close to where U.S and coalition forces are based. Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) pledged to identify who was responsible for the attack, despite claims of responsibility from Awliya al-Dam, a known Iranian proxy. The attack underscored how high regional tensions as U.S President Joe Biden looks to re-engage Iran in negotiations over the nuclear deal his predecessor Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. Tehran may have had its eye on a wider audience with this attack according to Caroline Rose, a senior analyst and head of the Strategic Vacuums Program at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington D.C. “They’re starting to turn their attention more to the Kurdish region of Iraq, the KRG government, and Turkey,” Rose told Ahval in a recent podcast interview.