Iraq Condemns Iran’s Violation of its Sovereignty

Members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq. (AFP)
Members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq. (AFP)
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Iraq Condemns Iran’s Violation of its Sovereignty

Members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq. (AFP)
Members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq. (AFP)

Baghdad on Sunday condemned Iran’s attack against the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

“The Ministry affirms Iraq’s keenness on the security of its neighbors and its refusal to allow its territory to be used to threaten the security of those countries,” Ahmed Mahjoub, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

He added that Iraq “categorically rejects” the violation of its sovereignty via bombings “without prior coordination with the Iraqi authorities, to spare civilians of the effects of such operations.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards boasted earlier that it had launched the missiles.

On Saturday, at least 14 Kurds were killed after Tehran launched seven missile strikes on bases of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in the province of Koya.

Koya, also known as Koysinjaq, is located in the eastern Erbil province.

The party had said Sunday that a drone was flying above the PDKI’s headquarter where a meeting was taking place before it was attacked by Katyusha missiles.

“The attack was carried out using seven Fateh-110 type short-range surface-to-surface missiles,” an IRGC statement said, without disclosing the location they were launched from.

The IRGC asserted that opposition groups have led to “widespread insecurity” in Rojhilati provinces and have deprived locals of “safety and peace.”

Later, Iran’s news agency Tasnim broadcast footage of the attack.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Iran's armed forces on Sunday to increase their power to "scare off" the enemy.

“Increase your power as much as you can, because your power scares off the enemy and forces it to retreat," his official website quoted him as saying at a graduation ceremony for cadets of Iran's regular armed forces.



Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)

Landmine victims from across the world gathered at a conference in Cambodia on Tuesday to protest the United States' decision to give landmines to Ukraine, with Kyiv's delegation expected to report at the meet.

More than 100 protesters lined the walkway taken by delegates to the conference venue in Siem Reap where countries are reviewing progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

"Look what antipersonnel landmines will do to your people," read one placard held by two landmine victims.

Alex Munyambabazi, who lost a leg to a landmine in northern Uganda in 2005, said he "condemned" the decision by the US to supply antipersonnel mines to Kyiv as it battles Russian forces.

"We are tired. We don't want to see any more victims like me, we don't want to see any more suffering," he told AFP.

"Every landmine planted is a child, a civilian, a woman, who is just waiting for their legs to be blown off, for his life to be taken.

"I am here to say we don't want any more victims. No excuses, no exceptions."

Washington's announcement last week that it would send anti-personnel landmines to Kyiv was immediately criticized by human rights campaigners.

Ukraine is a signature to the treaty. The United States and Russia are not.

Ukraine using the US mines would be in "blatant disregard for their obligations under the mine ban treaty," said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

"These weapons have no place in today´s warfare," she told AFP.

"[Ukraine's] people have suffered long enough from the horrors of these weapons."

A Ukrainian delegation was present at the conference on Tuesday, and it was expected to present its report on progress in clearing mines on its territory.