UN chief voices concern over missile attack in Erbil, Iraq

UNITED NATIONS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned about Sunday's missile attack in Erbil, Iraq, said Farhan Haq, his deputy spokesman, on Tuesday.

The attack came at a critical moment for Iraq's path to peace and stability. The secretary-general renewed his call on all concerned sides to exercise restraint and avoid escalation, said the spokesman.

Guterres urged Iraq's partners to support Iraqi efforts to advance regional peace and security in accordance with the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and good neighborly relations, said Haq.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday confirmed that it launched the attack on what it said an Israeli intelligence base in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The operation was in response to an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital of Damascus on March 7, in which two IRGC officers were killed, the IRGC said in a statement.