What Is the Secret of Baghdad International Airport’s Bombing Time?

A missile strike targeting Baghdad International Airport, which resulted in the injury of a civilian aircraft, raised many questions about the parties behind it, the timing’s secret, and the messages intended to be conveyed through the attack, which was described as "crossing all red lines."

The Iraqi police stated on January 28, 2022, that at least three missiles fell at Baghdad International Airport, near a nearby US airbase known as (Camp Victory) causing damage to an unused civilian plane belonging to Iraqi Airways.

 

Multiple Messages

Regarding the parties behind the attacks and the timing, the researcher in Iraqi affairs Mahmoud al-Hamdi said that "the bombing came immediately after the signature of a collaboration deal with Riyadh in the field of electrical interconnection after the Iranian side cut off the supply of gas to Iraq to operate power stations."

Al-Hamid added to Al-Estiklal that "the militias and forces loyal to Iran do not want any opening of Iraq to the Arab world, and the Gulf countries in particular, and Riyadh's attempt to sign an agreement with the Iraqi government to invest in the Samawah desert has previously failed."

On January 25, 2021, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the capital, Riyadh, in the presence of Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, and Secretary-General of the Iraqi Council of Ministers, Hamid al-Ghazi, as part of the Saudi-Iraqi Business Forum.

Al-Hamid also explained: "The bombing of the airport and the injury of one of the planes, and its broadcast on the Arab and international media, may make Iraq isolated in the Arab world and internationally, as it was in the era of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and forced to go towards Iran only."

Al-Hamidi pointed out that "the militias loyal to Iran will do everything to prevent the formation of a national majority government in which Muqtada al-Sadr will manage alone, who may target all his political opponents, led by the leader of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki."

The leader of the Sadrist movement stipulated the removal of his political rival al-Maliki from any future government in exchange for his agreement to enter into an alliance with the forces of the Shiite coordination framework, but the latter refused and called for the participation of all.

However, it was noteworthy that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the attack on Baghdad airport with missiles, stressing that it was "a suspicious act that aims to destabilize the security and stability of Iraq."

 

Confusion’s Atmosphere

For his part, a press report quoted the Iraqi political analyst Issam al-Faili on January 30, 2022, saying: “The attack was not adopted by any party, which led to an atmosphere of confusion, pointing out that the international bodies stand with Iraq and will not put it in the circle of security and economic risks.”

Al-Faili said: "Some political forces see the targeting as a means of pressure to prevent the continuation of the tripartite alliance that crosses affiliations," noting that the ISIS media did not claim responsibility for the operation.

What has come to be known as the "cross-affiliation tripartite alliance" is formed by the Sadrist movement, the Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by Massoud Barzani, the Sovereignty Alliance (Sunni) led by Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi, and the politician Khamis al-Khanjar.

The Prime Minister and the Security Media Cell described the operation as a form of chaos used by non-state forces, wanting to prove their existence without naming a specific party.

Al-Faili pointed out that "the international community is fully aware that there are parties that are trying to weaken the concept of the state and its authority, and the international community will not give an opportunity to achieve these goals by placing Iraq within the framework of aviation risks."

He pointed out that this matter became clear after Baghdad International Airport announced the continuation of its flights hours after the attack.

He ruled out that this incident will affect the formation of the government. The statements that approve the majority government are clear, so all the negotiating parties will speed up the formation of the government in order not to have more crises.

In this context, the Iraqi political analyst Moataz Abdul Hamid, during a press report on January 30, 2022, said that this incident will have dire political dimensions for Iraq, and reflects its inability to secure the airport.

He added that there were security breaches that occurred in the past in the vicinity of Baghdad Airport, which affected the non-entry of planes to Iraq, the case of the shooting of the windows of an Emirates Airlines plane.

This led to the reluctance of a large number of international airlines to land at Baghdad Airport, expecting that “the accident will have political dimensions in light of Iraq’s inability to secure air navigation.”

In January 2015, one of the Emirates planes belonging to the Fly Dubai company was hit by bullets while landing on the airport runway, which prompted a number of Arab and international companies to suspend their flights to Baghdad Airport.

Abdul Hamid called for the necessity of securing the perimeter of the airport from a distance of several kilometers to detect cars carrying these missiles, pointing out that all airports in the world are relatively far from cities, so that there is a high monitoring force for any security breaches.

He wondered about the reasons why the air defense systems in the vicinity of the airport were not able to shoot down the missiles that hit the runway, stressing the need to constantly update these systems, describing what happened at the airport as "dangerous."

The Iraqi political analyst suggested that the parties that targeted the headquarters of the Speaker of Parliament and the headquarters of the parties are the same ones that targeted Baghdad airport to confuse the situation in the country.

 

Isolating Iraq

On January 29, 2022, another press report quoted well-informed Iraqi sources saying that the bombing of Baghdad airport is a clear message aimed at awakening Iraqis' fears and re-isolating Iraq from the world, to force some of its political forces to accept what they expressed their rejection of in light of the results of the recent parliamentary elections.

The sources stated that an Iranian delegation headed by the former ambassador in Baghdad, Hassan Danai, fled, used the language of threat in addressing Iraqi political forces, and resorted to phrases such as we will not accept and we will not tolerate, what Iraqi politicians considered an Iranian return to blatant interference in the internal affairs of Iraq.

In the same regard, an Iraqi political source confirmed to Al-Estiklal, preferring to remain anonymous, that the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, is making efforts to dissuade Iraqi political forces from the decision to form a national majority government.

The source revealed that Qaani visited the Kurdistan region of Iraq on January 30, 2022, and met the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Massoud Barzani, and asked him not to join the majority government with Muqtada al-Sadr, and the (Sunni) Sovereignty Alliance.

For its part, the Civil Aviation Authority expressed its fears that the attack might expose the country to more sanctions and restrictions that would cost Iraq material losses.

It explained that the targeting of Baghdad International Airport, although it was not the first, "this time led to significant damage to one of the airport runways and two civilian aircraft in the southern area of ​​the airport."

A statement by the Iraqi Pilots Association on January 29 stated that one of the two damaged planes had been donated by Iran to the government of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in 2007.

It stated that the plane hit by one of the missiles was the out-of-service Iraqi presidential plane.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said in a statement issued by his office on January 28 that targeting Baghdad airport was a cowardly act to undermine Iraq's reputation and endanger its interests, as he described it.

He added in a statement that his government will respond decisively to such operations and that the silence about this attack will be considered by the perpetrators as a political cover for them. Al-Kadhimi called on the countries of the world not to impose restrictions on travel and movement to Iraq.

The United Nations Mission in Iraq expressed its deep concern about the current wave of attacks, the latest of which was targeting Baghdad International Airport.

At the regional level, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain condemned the attack in separate statements of their respective foreign ministries and considered the attack a "terrorist act."