Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has attacked targets in Iraq and Syria with several ballistic missiles. The attacks were revenge for, among other things, a devastating attack in the southern Iranian city of Kerman at the beginning of January and the killing of a high-ranking IRGC officer at the end of December, the IRGC web portal said on Tuesday night (local time).
The Revolutionary Guard described the target in Iraq's Kurdish areas as a spy center for the Israeli secret service Mossad. “We assure our beloved people that the Revolutionary Guard’s offensive operations will continue until the last drop of martyrs’ blood is avenged,” it said in a statement.
Loud explosions were heard in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil shortly before midnight (local time). According to eyewitnesses, several rockets hit near a new US consulate under construction. According to security circles in Erbil, four civilians were killed. Five others are said to have been injured. Rockets fell on farms north of Erbil and hit houses.
Attacks in Syria are directed against IS
In Syria, according to the Revolutionary Guard, the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) “was located in the occupied areas of Syria and destroyed by firing a series of ballistic missiles,” the statement said. According to the state news agency Irna, extremist groups were attacked in Idlib province.
According to Irna, the attack was the country's most far-reaching missile operation to date, covering a distance of more than 1,200 kilometers. This should also be a clear signal to the arch-enemy Israel. It would be roughly the same distance that rockets from the west of the country would need to reach Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
The Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw had previously reported on X (formerly Twitter) about a rocket attack from an IRGC missile base in western Iran. This was aimed at the city of Erbil, wrote the Norway-based organization. The information could not initially be verified.
Meanwhile, the Security Council of the Kurdish Autonomous Regions described the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's justifications for the attack in Erbil as mere pretexts. The attack was a violation of the sovereignty of the region and Iraq, it said in an initial statement on Tuesday night. Erbil is “not a source of threat” and will not be in the future, “but the Guard forces are using false pretexts to undermine the stability of the country.”
The situation in the region has been extremely tense since the Gaza war broke out more than three months ago. There have been no missile attacks by the IRGC since then. However, militant groups allied with Iran have often attacked targets in Syria and Iraq in recent months. Israel and the USA have been considered Iran's arch-enemies since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Previous attacks on Iranian targets
At the end of December, Iranian Brigadier General Sejed-Rasi Mousavi was killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Syria. He was a senior member of the IRGC. Iran's military leadership then vowed revenge on Israel. The Revolutionary Guard is Iran's elite unit and is considered far more powerful than the regular troops. The commander in chief is Head of State Ali Khamenei.
More than 90 people were killed in a terrorist attack in the city of Kerman at the beginning of January. IS claimed responsibility for the attack. It was for a mourning event to mark the anniversary of the death of the powerful general Ghassem Soleimani in his hometown. It was the deadliest attack in the 45-year history of the Islamic Republic.
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