Iran attacked northern Iraq and Syria

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced early on Tuesday, January 16, that they had launched several salvos of ballistic missiles at targets. “terrorists” In Iraq and Syria, the least killed “Four Citizens” in Iraqi Kurdistan according to the local authorities of the autonomous region. The strike by Iran from Monday to Tuesday night comes in an already tense regional context, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, raising fears of a regional rupture between allies of the two camps.

Outside Erbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards claimed to have been targeted and destroyed. “Spy Headquarters” Which they attribute to Israel, as was pointed out “Gathering of Anti-Iranian Terrorist Groups”According to the official IRNA news agency. In Syria, the Guards Corps announced on its Sepah News website that it had ““Identified locations of gathering of commanders and key elements of recent terrorist operations, particularly those linked to ISIS.” (IS), in Syria, and they have “Destroyed by firing numerous ballistic missiles”.

Four civilians killed in Kurdistan

He disclosed that this attack was carried out in Syria in 1999 “In response to the recent crimes of terrorist groups that have unjustly martyred countless of our dear compatriots in Kerman and Rask”. On January 3, attackers launched a suicide attack on a crowd gathered in Kerman, southern Iran, during a memorial ceremony near the grave of General Qasem Soleimani, the former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, who was killed in January 2020. American strikes in Iraq. About 90 people were killed and many wounded in the attack claimed by ISIS.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, at least “Four Citizens” An Iranian missile attack killed and wounded six others, officials in the autonomous region announced in a statement. An AFP correspondent in Erbil heard several large explosions as the missiles hit an upscale residential area on the outskirts of Erbil, northeast of the Kurdistan capital.

“Clear Violation of Territory and Iraq’s Sovereignty”

In a press release, the Kurdistan Security Council accused Tehran of harboring “Unfounded support” for its repeated bombings against the region. “What happened is a clear violation of the territory and the sovereignty of Iraq. The federal government and the international community must not remain silent against these crimes., insists on a press release. Earlier, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the ruling party in Erbil, reported the deaths of civilians, including real estate tycoon Peshrao Dizai and members of his family, after their homes were hit.

A year ago, Tehran repeatedly bombed the sites of various Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, particularly those accused of involvement in the protest movement that began after the death in detention, in September 2022, of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd arrested. Moral police.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Revolutionary Guards confirmed that they had targeted and destroyed an Israeli target in Iraqi Kurdistan – “The headquarters of the spies of the Zionist regime (Mossad)», according to IRNA. According to him, a targeted site was used “Develop intelligence operations and plan terrorist actions in the region”, according to the same source. If Iraq criminalizes any contact with Israel, politicians in autonomous Kurdistan have been able to remain complacent on the subject in the past. But Kurdistan’s official line remains cautious and denies any desire for ties or normalization with Israel.

According to IRNA, the attack in Erbil comes in retaliation for the recent killing of several commanders of the Revolutionary Guards as well as leaders. “Axis of Resistance” – Tehran’s allies in the war against Israel are named. On January 2, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a strike attributed to Israel killed Saleh al-Arouri, the number two of Hamas, and six other officials and executives of the Palestinian Islamic Movement. In mid-January, Wissam Tawil, a senior military officer of the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah, was killed by a strike attributed to Israel in southern Lebanon.