Iran's Revolutionary Guard said early Tuesday that it had fired multiple volleys of ballistic missiles at “terrorist” targets in Iraq and Syria, killing at least “four civilians” in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to local authorities in the autonomous region.
Published on: 01/16/2024 – 01:15 am Modified on: 01/16/2024 – 01:34 am
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At least four explosions were heard on both sides of Erbil. Images circulating on social networks show trajectories of smoke and ballistic missiles near the American consulate, our correspondent in Erbil reports. Marion Fontenille. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it targeted and destroyed “a spy headquarters” that it attributed to Israel, as well as “a gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups,” according to the official Irna press agency.
Kurdish authorities report the deaths of at least four civilians. Among the victims are an influential Kurdish businessman and his entire family. Erbil airport is at a standstill. In a press release, Kurdistan's Security Council accused Tehran of resorting to “unfounded justifications” for its repeated bombings against the region. “What happened is a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the region and Iraq. “The federal government and the international community cannot remain silent in the face of these crimes,” the statement said.
According to Irna, the attack in Erbil was in retaliation for the recent murders of several Revolutionary Guard commanders, but also of leaders of the “Axis of Resistance,” as Tehran's allies in the fight against Israel are called. On January 2, a strike attributed to Israel occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut killed Hamas number two, Saleh al-Arouriand six other officials and leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement. In mid-January, Wissam Tawil, a senior military official with Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah, was killed in southern Lebanon in an attack also attributed to Israel.
In Syria, the Guard Corps announced on its Sepah News website that it was “identifying the assembly points of commanders and key elements related to recent terrorist attacks, particularly the Islamic State” and “destroying them by firing a certain number of ballistic missiles.” have. He explained that this attack in Syria was carried out “in response to the recent crimes of terrorist groups that have unjustly martyred a number of our dear compatriots in Kerman and Rask.”
On January 3, attackers committed one Suicide attack against the crowd gathered in Kermanin southern Iran, during a memorial ceremony near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East who was killed by an American strike in Iraq in January 2020.
(And with AFP)