Iranian drones hit an airport in Azerbaijan and a nearby school on Thursday, injuring two people, according to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
“This attack against the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan constitutes a violation of the norms and principles of international law and serves to increase tensions in the region,” the ministry wrote in a statement.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said it demanded explanations from Iran and has summoned its ambassador in Baku to provide clarifications.
An Iranian drone exploded near a secondary school in the village of Shakarabad in Azerbaijan’s Babak District in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, according to Azeri outlet Report.
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an exclave of Azerbaijan, bordering on Iran’s northwestern tip and Armenia.
Azerbaijan is a close ally of Israel and possesses one of the Caspian basin’s largest and most modern armies. It has attempted to maintain constructive relations with its neighbor Iran while pursuing a close military cooperation with Israel, Turkey and NATO member countries.
“We demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran clarify the issue within a short period of time, provide an explanation, and take the necessary urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future,” the foreign ministry in Baku said.
In addition to Israel, Iran has hit targets in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the war began on Saturday.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that a British Royal Air Force base in Cyprus was also targeted, though on Wednesday, the U.K. Defence Ministry said that “a Shahed-like drone which targeted RAF Akrotiri at midnight on 2nd March was not launched from Iran.”
Cypriot officials said the drone may have been launched from Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah, a terrorist group that is an Iranian proxy, and which on Monday began attacking Israel in solidarity with Iran.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told his parliament on Thursday that his country, Spain, France and the Netherlands will send naval assets to Cyprus following the incident, France24 reported.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday warned that the continued Iranian attacks against Arab countries constitute a mistake, urging Tehran to halt its operations immediately.
The attacks are “not only a blatant violation of international law and the U.N. Charter, but also an assault on the principles of good neighbourliness,” wrote Aboul Gheit, who heads a 22-member body focused on uniting the Arab World on policy and trade issues.
“They are creating an unprecedented level of hostility between Iran and its Arab neighbors and causing a deep rupture whose impact will echo for years to come,” he added.
Several people have died as a result of Iran’s attacks, including two Kuwaiti servicemen, six U.S. servicemen, 11 Israel citizens, a Filipino caregiver in Israel and two foreign workers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Aboul Gheit added that while “no one underestimates the hardships of the war Iran is facing, there is absolutely no justification for targeting neighboring Arab states in an attempt to drag them into a conflict that is not theirs, especially when several Arab countries have worked tirelessly to prevent such a catastrophic war.”
He emphasised that this is a “serious strategic miscalculation by Iran” and expressed hope that it will be corrected through an immediate end to the attacks.
