Iranian attack in Erbil

            On 13 March, Iran bombed Erbil, a large city in the north-east of Iraq inhabited mainly by the Kurdish population of the country. Tehran claimed responsibility for the strikes, which hit infrastructures that the Revolutionary Guards claim to be Israeli training complexes, but also strategic centres.

            It is therefore a rivalry, an enmity that is ancient, deeply rooted in the consciousness and that echoes in our current situation. Since 2012, numerous air raids have been carried out by Israel against Syria. These tensions - whose link could easily be woven between the efforts of the United States and Tel Aviv to destabilise the Syrian regime of Bashar El-Assad, and the recent civil war suffered by Syrian society - have led to an increase in the number of Israeli interventions against Syria, aided by Iran.

            On 7 March 2022 Israel bombed the suburbs of Damascus, killing two people. A small toll but a belligerent action that has no other purpose than the Hebrew determination to depose the Syrian leader. The reason for such a will is to be found in the particular relations that exist between Damascus and Tehran, both seats of countries with a Shiite majority, both opposed to the domination of Israel in the Middle East.

            In response to the strikes near Damascus, which Tel Aviv says it carried out against the Iranian forces, Pasdaran, Iran bombed the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, using the presence of US and Israeli military complexes as a pretext. Washington and the Hebrew state immediately denied the presence of bases belonging to them, pointing out that only a US Consulate is present in the city. New sanctions were imposed on Tehran.

            However, as Iran is part of the Sino-Russian economic, military and energy alliance, the sanctions imposed on it have less and less effect, except on the European side. Indeed, European positions are unclear, with some countries such as France, Germany and Italy trying to maintain their market share in the country, but remaining timid, becoming uncertain commercial and diplomatic partners as soon as the United States calls them to order.

            In the context of the Southern Russian war against Ukraine, in which the Donbass territories, i.e. the Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, are the main issue, Iran has sided with Russia, waiting for China to take a stand. With the situation in the region taking precedence over all other crises of the moment, Israel took advantage of this window of opportunity to attack Iranian forces in Syria, attempting to further destabilise the El-Assad regime. The strikes launched from the territories near Iraq by Iran's revolutionary forces are a message to Israel, the United States and the rest of the West; Tehran remains ready to defend its interests, those of its allies, but above all to carry out its power project in the region, wanting to counter Tel Aviv's wishes.

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