Global Courant
The IRGC says it has fired ballistic missiles at “spy centers” in the northern Iraqi city and attacked targets in Syria.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has launched ballistic missiles at what it described as enemy locations in Erbil, a city in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, according to a statement carried by Iranian state media.
“Ballistic missiles were used late this evening to destroy espionage centers and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region,” the statement said.
At least eight explosions were heard early Tuesday in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Air traffic at Erbil airport was also halted, three security sources told Reuters news agency.
A later statement from the IRGC, shared by Iran’s IRNA news agency, claimed that the group had attacked the headquarters of the Israeli spy agency Mossad in Erbil.
“This is a terrorist attack, an inhuman act committed against Erbil. Erbil will not be afraid or shocked,” Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw said, according to Iraqi news channel Rudaw.
It was not immediately clear whether there were any deaths or injuries related to the blasts, but two US officials told Reuters that the attacks did not hit any US facilities and there were no US casualties.
Meanwhile, Hemn Hawrami, a leading politician from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said on social media platform X that at least five people were killed in the explosions.
“Tonight’s unjustified attacks in Erbil by the IRGC targeted a civilian home. The owner of the House, Peshraw Dizaiy and four members of his family were killed,” he said. wrote. Those deaths have yet to be confirmed.
The attacks come amid increased fears that Israel’s ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip could lead to a broader regional escalation.
Since the Gaza war began in early October, U.S. and allied forces have faced dozens of attacks in Iraq and Syria, which U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has blamed on armed groups linked to Iran.
The IRGC also said it launched missile strikes against the “perpetrators of terrorist operations in the Islamic Republic, in particular ISIL (ISIS)” in Syria, state media reported.
“The Guards have identified and destroyed their commanders’ assembly points and key elements with a series of ballistic missiles in response to recent terrorist atrocities in Iran,” the statement said.
ISIL earlier this month claimed responsibility for an attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman that killed nearly a hundred people.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem reported that “Iran has tried as much as possible to distance itself from any kind of tension” in the region, amid Israel’s war in Gaza, which started on October 7 and has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians.
“This is the first time we see the Iranians going a step further,” Hashem said, describing Tuesday’s attacks as a “new escalation.”
