Iranian media reports say the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has fired barrages of ballistic missiles at bases of terrorists in Syria, who were involved in recent attacks in Iran, as well as an Israeli espionage center in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Mehr News Agency (MNA) reports that the IRGC said the first missile strike targeted gathering places of commanders and main elements of recent terrorist attacks in the Iranian cities of Kerman and Rask.
It added that the strike came after gathering points of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group were identified in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed with a number of ballistic missiles.
The Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for two explosions that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores of others at a memorial for Iran's top anti-terror commander Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on January 3.
On December 15, a terrorist attack hit a police station in the southeastern Iranian city of Rask, killing 11 police officers and injuring at least six others.
IRNA reported that the Sunni jihadist Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) group, which has repeatedly clashed in the past with border guards and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, had claimed responsibility.
IRNA and Press TV say the IRGC in three separate announcements linked the overnight operations to terrorists and their backers involved in the recent terror attacks in the Iranian cities of Kerman and Rask.
Two earlier statements published by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps reportedly clarified that it fired a number of missiles on spy centers and the gathering of anti-Iran terrorist groups in parts of the region, including in Syria.
In the third statement addressing to the Iranian nation, the IRGC reportedly announced the targeting and destruction of the Mossad headquarters in Iraq’s Kurdistan with ballistic missiles for its role as well as the plot the Israeli regime’s spy agency hatched to assassinate Iranian and resistance commanders.
Citing US officials, Reuters says no US bases were affected by the missile strikes in Erbil and there were no American casualties.
At least eight explosions were reportedly 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 Reuters.
Al Jazeera says the United States condemned the attacks.
“We oppose Iran’s reckless missile strikes, which undermine Iraq’s stability,” US Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We support the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people.”
