Iraqi Kurdistan is at the heart of regional tensions. Turkish forces based in its territory have been targeted twice in the past week. A few days earlier, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Erbil, against what they define as an Israeli center of interest.
Seven rockets arrived around the Turkish base of Bachiqa, located in Iraqi Kurdistan, without causing any casualties. This is the fourth attack against this base since the beginning of the year. It has not been claimed, but pro-Iranian Shiite militias regularly call for the departure of Ankara troops from Iraqi territory.
Turkish forces have been installed in Kurdistan since the war against the Islamic State organization. Officially came to train the Kurdish peshmergas, they never left. Ankara is very close to the ruling party, the PDK. Iraqi Kurdistan has always been a disputed zone of influence between the two great neighbors, Turkey and Iran.
On March 12, another attack hit the house of the CEO of an oil and gas company in Erbil. A missile launch this time, claimed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. According to an Iraqi security source quoted by the Reuters news agency, the man’s house was used to organize a meeting between Americans and Israelis about a new gas pipeline passing through Turkey.
Early last week, the Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister claimed that the region could alleviate Europe’s energy crisis by becoming a net exporter of gas in the near future.