The first deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Homam Hamoudi, announced that Iraq plans to sue Israel for monetary compensation for carrying out Operation Opera, Israeli attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor in southeastern Baghdad which occured on June 7, 1981 .

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A statement published by Turkish news agency Anatolia said that "the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament has to raise the issue in the international arena and give it special attention, especially as it is the 35th anniversary of the Israeli attack against the nuclear reactor.”

The Osirak nuclear reactor before its destruction (Photo: Yedioth Achronoth archives)

At the same time, Hamoudi called on the UN to implement Security Council Resolution 487 from1981 which gives Iraq the right to ask for compensation for the operation against the reactor, which he claims affected the country’s development. In the resolution the UN Security Council demanded that “Israel, in view of its international responsibility for its act of aggression, pay prompt and adequate compensation for the material damage and loss of life suffered as a result of the said act.”

Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Iraqi parliament, Abdel Bari Zibari, explained that there are several obstacles which stand in the way of filing the suit, especially the fact that so far Iraq has not received the required international assistance needed to sue Israeli regarding its attack. According to Zibari, such action requires international assistance, particularly from Security Council member countries, so that they will guarantee Iraq's right to file the lawsuit.

In the past there were voices raised in the Iraqi parliament regarding compensation from Israel due to the attack, but these never led to any concrete action. It seems that this time as well, in light of the issue having been dropped from the Iraqi agenda and Iraq's involvement in internal crises, the plans to sue will not come to fruition.