Iran Guards hit Iraq, Syria ‘terrorist’ targets

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have launched missile attacks on multiple “terrorist” targets in Syria and in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, state media reported Tuesday.

The attacks destroyed “a spy headquarters” and a “gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Four people were killed and six others wounded in the attack, according to Iraq’s Kurdistan security council.

The prominent businessman Peshraw Dizayee was among several civilians who were killed, the Kurdistan Democratic Party said.

Iraq condemned as an “attack on its sovereignty” Tuesday’s missile strikes.

Iraqi authorities “will take all legal steps” necessary, including “lodging a complaint with the (UN) Security Council”, the foreign ministry said in statement.

They will also publish the findings of an investigation into the strikes, to prove to “Iraqi and international public opinion the falseness of the allegations made by those responsible for these reprehensible actions.”

The IRGC also hit targets in Syria with ballistic missiles, including the “gathering places of commanders and main elements related to recent terrorist operations, particularly the Islamic State group,” their Sepah News service reported.

It added that the strike on Syria was in response to recent attacks by terrorist groups that killed Iranians in the southern cities of Kerman and Rask.

Explosions were heard in Aleppo and its countryside, where “at least 4 missiles that came from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea” fell, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.

The IRGC also said it had struck alleged Israeli “spy headquarters” in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.

It said the headquarters had served as “the centre for developing espionage operations and planning terrorist actions in the region,” naming Israel’s Mossad spy organization.

The Guards said the strike was in response to recent attacks on Iran and the “axis of resistance” of Iran-aligned groups, which have raised concerns about violence spreading from Israel’s war in Gaza.

Regional tensions have spiked, drawing in Iran-backed armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.