Iran Launches Ballistic Missile Attacks on Sites in Iraq, Syria, Washington Condemns

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bombed early on Tuesday what it called "spy stations and gatherings of anti-Iran terrorist groups" in Iraq and Syria, while the authorities of the Kurdistan region claimed the death of four civilians, and the United States condemned the strikes.

The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by the Iranian news agency IRNA that it had destroyed one of the main spy headquarters of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, according to the statement.

The strike destroyed "a gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in parts of the region using ballistic missiles", the statement said.

Reuters reported that three security sources said that the sound of explosions were heard in an area about 40 kilometers from the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan region, in an area close to the American consulate and from civilian residences.

The KRG Security Council said that at least four civilians were killed and six others were injured - some of them unstable - in missile strikes by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"The IRGC has targeted numerous civilian and populated sites with a number of ballistic missiles," the council said in a statement.

The Council rejected Iran's justification that the raid targeted groups opposed to Tehran, and called on the federal government and the international community not to remain silent in the face of these crimes.

“We oppose Iran’s reckless missile strikes, which are undermining Iraq’s stability,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

"We support the efforts of the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people," he said in a statement.

Three security sources told Reuters that Erbil airport suspended air traffic after explosions were heard in the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

Two U.S. officials told Reuters that U.S. facilities were not affected by the missile strikes.

The IRGC said the shelling was in response to recent "terrorist acts" inside Iran.

The Revolutionary Guard also said it has targeted "terrorist" leaders and groups in Syria responsible for planning the Karman attack in Iran.

The German news agency DPA, citing opposition media sources, reported that Iran fired several missiles on opposition-held areas in northwest Syria.

Media sources reported hearing the sounds of shelling in the north and said that they were the sound of four Iranian Fateh 110 missiles originating from Iranian bases in the coast, one of which targeted the clinic of the village of Taltieh in northern Idlib, and the rest of the missiles targeted the positions of the Islamic State in the Badia.

Earlier this month, a twin bombing near the tomb of former IRGC Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani in southern Iran's Kerman province killed nearly 100 people.

ISIL claimed the Karman attack, which took place during ceremonies and events marking the fourth anniversary of Soleimani's assassination in a US raid on Baghdad airport.

Source: Al-Jazeera