Iranian missiles strike Iraq’s Irbil and ISIS in Syria | EUROtoday

The Revolutionary Guard Corps mentioned the “espionage headquarters” of Israel’s Mossad intelligence company had been used to plan “terrorist” acts towards Iran, in line with a press release launched via its media arm early Tuesday native time. Kurdish officers deny the claims. The Israeli prime minister’s press workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Iranian forces “always use baseless excuses to attack Erbil,” the Kurdish Regional Security Council mentioned in a press release, including that the regional capital of Iraqi Kurdistan is a “stable region and has never been a threat to any party.”

“This is a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, and the federal government and the international community must not remain silent regarding this crime,” the council mentioned.

Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran following the strikes, the Foreign Ministry mentioned in a press release Tuesday. The ministry additionally mentioned Iran’s prime diplomat in Baghdad had been summoned over the assault and was handed a “protest note.”

The Kurdistan regional parliament’s deputy speaker, Hemin Hawrami, recognized the useless as an Iraqi businessman and his household. Condemning the assault, Masrour Barzani, Kurdistan’s prime minister, mentioned on social media that he’ll work with worldwide allies over the subsequent few days “to stop these brutal attacks.”

The strike befell in an space on the outskirts of Irbil metropolis close to a U.S. Consulate constructing that’s underneath building. There is a U.S. Consulate inside the town that’s operational.

The Iranian missile volley follows a sequence of escalatory assaults in current weeks. Iran vowed to take revenge for the killing of a senior Revolutionary Guard officer in Syria final month. And additionally in December, the United States carried out airstrikes on Iraqi soil concentrating on Iranian-backed militant teams linked to assaults on U.S. forces.

The United States additionally struck one other group with hyperlinks to Iran — the Houthi militants in Yemen — which the White House mentioned was in retaliation for his or her assaults towards business transport within the Red Sea. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned the United States and its allies Monday towards concentrating on Yemen.

U.S.-led coalition strikes Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen

Also on Tuesday, the Revolutionary Guard Corps mentioned it launched missiles towards Islamic State militants in Syria, Iranian state media reported. That strike comes after a bomb assault within the Iranian metropolis of Kerman, which the Islamic State claimed accountability for, killed 95 folks this month.

No U.S. personnel or amenities have been focused or broken in Iraq or Syria, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson mentioned. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned the United States “strongly condemns Iran’s attacks in Erbil today and offers condolences to the families of those who were killed.”

“We oppose Iran’s reckless missile strikes, which undermine Iraq’s stability,” Miller mentioned in a press release.

Tensions within the Middle East have grown since Hamas’s assault on Israel in October and the following struggle in Gaza, with Iran’s community of allied militant teams demonstrating the nation’s proxy energy. American troops in Iraq and Syria have confronted a minimum of 131 assaults by Iranian-backed militant teams since Oct. 17, in line with Pentagon knowledge. But the missile strikes early Tuesday are one of many uncommon instances the Revolutionary Guard Corps has taken direct credit score for an assault since Oct. 7.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, counterterrorism forces in Kurdistan mentioned they shot down three “bomb-laden drones” trying to focus on a U.S. navy base close to Irbil’s worldwide airport, an space that has repeatedly been attacked by Iran-backed Shiite militants. No group instantly took accountability for the failed assault.

Salim reported from Baghdad, Melnick from Washington and Masih from Seoul. Alex Horton in Washington contributed to this report.