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Iraq to seek compensation from Israel for '81 airstrike

May 22, 2019 at 7:50 pm

Journalists are shown the destroyed Tammuz Iraqi nuclear reactor bombed by Israel during an air raid in 1981 and hit again during the 1991 Gulf War at al-Toweitheh, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of Baghdad 09 September 2002. [RAMZI HAIDAR/AFP/Getty Images]

Iraq’s parliament is considering legislation that would, if approved, call on the Iraqi government to formally demand compensation from Israel for a 1981 airstrike that destroyed the country’s French-built Osirak nuclear reactor, Anadolu reports.

Submitted to the assembly’s presidency on Wednesday, the draft legislation seeks compensation from Israel for casualties and material damage incurred by the strike.

Along with destroying the reactor, the airstrike is believed to have left at least 11 Iraqis — including military personnel — dead.

In a statement, MP Oday Awad, author of the proposed legislation, said the 1981 airstrike represented a “clear violation of international treaties” for which Iraq “has the right to demand compensation”.

On June 7, 1981, Israel attacked Iraq’s half-built Osirak nuclear reactor, which had been under construction at the time with the assistance of French technicians.

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