Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards on Monday launched ballistic missiles at what it said was a spy base for Israel\u2019s intelligence agency Mossad in northern Iraq, and at \u201canti-Iran terror groups\u201d in Syria, in the latest\u00a0escalation of hostilities that further risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict. <\/p>\n
The strikes were condemned by the United States as \u201creckless\u201d and imprecise. <\/p>\n
Iranian forces said the midnight missile strike\u00a0in Iraq destroyed \u201cone of the main espionage headquarters\u201d of Israel in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, in response to what they said were Israeli attacks that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders and members of the Iranian resistance front. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis headquarters has been the center for developing espionage operations and planning terrorist acts\u201d in the region and Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement Monday. <\/p>\n
The IRGC also said it struck several locations in Erbil and claimed to target \u201csites of Iranian opposition groups.\u201d <\/p>\n
At least four civilians were killed and six others injured in the attack,\u00a0according to a statement early Tuesday by the Security Council of the Kurdistan region. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis blatant violation undermines the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq,\u201d the Security Council said in its statement, which accused\u00a0Iran of employing baseless pretexts to attack Erbil, a historically stable region that it said had never posed a threat to any party. <\/p>\n
Also on Monday, the IRGC said it fired ballistic missiles at bases of \u201canti-Iran terror groups in occupied territories of Syria.\u201d <\/p>\n
It claimed the targets were involved in the recent dual bombings in the city of Kerman during a memorial for the slain Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani that left scores dead and wounded. <\/p>\n
ISIS claimed responsibility for the deadly twin blasts near Soleimani\u2019s burial site, in what was the deadliest attack in Iran since its 1979 revolution. <\/p>\n
In its statement, the IRGC said it \u201cidentified and destroyed a number of key terror commanders and elements, especially Daesh (ISIS), in the occupied territories of Syria by firing a number of ballistic missiles.\u201d <\/p>\n
A US official said Monday initial indications of Iran\u2019s missile attacks showed \u201cthis was a reckless and imprecise set of strikes.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen the reports, and we tracked the missiles, which impacted in northern Iraq and northern Syria. No US personnel or facilities were targeted,\u201d the official said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIran is claiming this is in response to the terrorist attacks in Kerman, Iran, and Rask, Iran, with a focus on ISIS. We will continue to assess the situation.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNo American personnel were injured,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n
Kurdistan region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called on \u201cour partners in the international community not to remain silent in the face of repeated\u00a0attacks against the people of Kurdistan.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this evening, Erbil was once again\u00a0attacked by Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Sadly, during tonight\u2019s unjustifiable\u00a0attack, several civilians have been martyred and wounded,\u201d Barzani said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cI condemn this cowardly\u00a0attack\u00a0on the people of the Kurdistan region in the strongest terms.\u201d <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s attacks will further raise fears that Israel\u2019s war in Gaza could widen into a full-scale war in the Middle East with grave humanitarian, political and economic consequences. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s relentless bombing of Gaza in response to Hamas\u2019 October 7 terror attacks has killed more than 24,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, and wrought widespread devastation, as civilians live with the threat of\u00a0imminent death\u00a0\u2013 either by an airstrike, starvation\u00a0or disease. <\/p>\n
The UN emergency relief chief said the war has brought famine to Gaza \u201cwith such incredible speed,\u201d and South Africa has brought allegations of genocide at the United Nations\u2019 top court \u2013 claims strenuously denied by Israel. <\/p>\n
The conflict has escalated hostilities across the region, with Iran\u2019s allies and proxies \u2013 the so-called axis of resistance \u2013 launching attacks on Israeli forces and its allies. <\/p>\n
US forces last week\u00a0sank three boats\u00a0belonging to Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels\u00a0in the Red Sea, and the US and UK launched strikes against\u00a0Houthi targets\u00a0in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen aimed at halting a series of attacks on commercial shipping. <\/p>\n
On Monday, a\u00a0Houthi missile hit a US-owned cargo ship\u00a0in the Red Sea, marking what appears to be the first time the militants have successfully struck a US-owned or operated ship. <\/p>\n
Last week, the US carried out a strike\u00a0in Baghdad that killed a leader from an Iran-backed\u00a0proxy group\u00a0that Washington blamed for attacks against US personnel in the region. US troops in Iraq and Syria have repeatedly come under rocket and drone attacks from Tehran\u2019s proxies. <\/p>\n
Fighting has intensified between Israel and the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah, across the Lebanon border. On Sunday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to press on with confrontations with Israeli forces on the\u00a0Lebanon border until the end of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Israel is also suspected of carrying out an attack on high-ranking Hamas leader, Saleh Al-Arouri, in Beirut, sparking fury among Hezbollah leaders who control the area where he was killed. <\/p>\n\n
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards on Monday launched ballistic missiles at what it said was a spy base for Israel\u2019s intelligence agency Mossad in northern Iraq, and at \u201canti-Iran terror groups\u201d in Syria, in the latest\u00a0escalation of hostilities that further risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict. The strikes were condemned by the United States as \u201creckless\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}