Iran strikes Israeli "spy headquarters" in Iraq, targets sites in Syria
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Iran's Revolutionary Guards have reportedly conducted missile attacks on multiple locations in Syria and Iraq's Kurdistan region.
According to state media, the strikes targeted an Israeli "spy headquarters" and a "gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups" in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Arbil. The attacks in Syria aimed at the "gathering places of commanders and main elements related to recent terrorist operations, particularly the Islamic State group."
The official IRNA news agency quoted a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), indicating that the assault was a response to recent terrorist acts that resulted in Iranian casualties in Kerman and Rask, reported AFP.
In Iraq's Kurdistan region, four people were killed, including the prominent businessman Peshraw Dizayee, and six others were wounded in the attack, as reported by the Kurdistan Security Council.
The United States strongly condemned the attacks, labelling them as "reckless" and asserting that they undermine Iraq's stability. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller expressed condolences to the families of those killed.
Explosions were reported in Aleppo and its countryside in Syria, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noting that at least four missiles came from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea.
The IRGC claimed to have struck alleged Israeli "spy headquarters" in Iraq's Kurdistan region, accusing it of being "the centre for developing espionage operations and planning terrorist actions in the region," specifically naming Israel's Mossad spy organisation. The strike was presented as a response to recent attacks on Iran and its aligned groups in the region.
This escalation comes amid heightened regional tensions, triggered by the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has involved Iran-backed armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
It is noteworthy that the IRGC had previously carried out missile attacks in Arbil in March 2022, targeting what it referred to as a "strategic centre" belonging to Israel. In recent months, there have been exchanges of attacks resulting in the deaths of senior military figures on both sides.