Iran announces strikes in northern Iraq and Syria as regional tensions increase
Iran has announced that it launched strikes against a “spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” shortly after missiles hit an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iran announced late Monday that it had launched strikes against a “spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” shortly after missiles hit an area near the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Soon after, a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on state media said it had struck “terrorist operations” including Islamic State targets in Syria “and destroyed them by firing a number of ballistic missiles.” Another statement claimed that it had hit a headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility earlier this month for two suicide bombings targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike. The attack in Kerman killed at least 84 people and wounded an additional 284 at a ceremony honoring Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Last month, Iran accused Israel of killing a high-ranking Iranian general, Seyed Razi Mousavi, in an airstrike on a Damascus neighborhood.
