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IRGC says it fired ballistic missiles at ‘espionage centres’ in northern Iraqi city, attacked targets in Syria.
Published On 15 Jan 2024
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has launched ballistic missiles at what it described as enemy sites in Erbil, a city in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, according to a statement carried by Iranian state media.
“Ballistic missiles were used to destroy espionage centres and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region late tonight,” the statement said.
At least eight explosions were heard in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, early on Tuesday.
Air traffic at Erbil Airport was also halted, three security sources told the Reuters news agency.
A later IRGC statement, shared by Iran’s IRNA news agency, claimed the group had targeted the headquarters of Israeli spy agency Mossad in Erbil.
“This is a terrorist attack, an inhumane act that has been carried out against Erbil. Erbil will not be scared or shaken,” Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw said, according to the Iraqi news outlet Rudaw.
It was not immediately clear if there were any deaths or injuries associated with the blasts, but two United States officials told Reuters that the strikes did not affect any US facilities and there were no US casualties.
Meanwhile, Hemn Hawrami, a leading politician in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said on the social media platform X that at least five people were dead in the explosions.
“Tonight’s unjustifed [sic] attacks in Erbil by the IRGC targeted a civilian house. The owner of the House, Peshraw Dizaiy and 4 member[s] of his family lost their lives,” he wrote. Those deaths have yet to be confirmed.
The attacks come amid heightened fears that Israel’s continued military offensive in the Gaza Strip could lead to a wider regional escalation.
Since the Gaza war began in early October, US and allied forces have faced dozens of attacks in Iraq and Syria, which US President Joe Biden’s administration has blamed on Iran-affiliated armed groups.
The IRGC also said it launched missile attacks against the “perpetrators of terrorist operations in the Islamic Republic, particularly ISIL [ISIS]” in Syria, state media reported.
“The Guards identified and destroyed gathering places of their commanders and key elements with a series of ballistic missiles in response to the recent terrorist atrocities in Iran,” the statement said.
ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack in Iran’s southeastern city of Kerman earlier this month, which killed nearly 100 people.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem reported that “Iran has been trying, as much as possible, to distance itself from any kind of tension” in the region amid Israel’s war in Gaza, which began on October 7 and has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians.
“This is the first time we’re seeing the Iranians going a step further,” said Hashem, describing Tuesday’s attacks as a “new escalation”.
Source
:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
