Last updated: 15.01.2024, 23:58
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In retaliation for recent terrorist attacks, Iran's Revolutionary Guards are firing missiles at Syria. The target is the terrorist militia Islamic State (archive photo). © Vahid Salemi/AP/dpa
In retaliation for recent terrorist attacks, Iran's Revolutionary Guards are firing missiles at Syria. The target is the terrorist militia Islamic State.
Tehran - Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) say they have attacked targets in Syria with missiles. The attack was in retaliation for the recent terrorist attacks in Iran, the IRGC web portal said at night (local time). In particular, the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) was "located in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed by the launch of a series of ballistic missiles," the statement said. It was initially unclear exactly which targets Iran was attacking.
Almost at the same time, several loud explosions shook the northern Iraqi city of Erbil shortly before midnight. According to eyewitnesses, several rockets landed near a new US consulate under construction. The international airport in the Kurdish city was also hit, while panic spread through the metropolis. It was initially unclear whether these were also attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
The Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw had previously reported on X (formerly Twitter) about a missile attack from an IRGC missile base in western Iran. This was for the city of Erbil, the Norway-based organization wrote. Initially, the information could not be verified.
The situation in the region has been extremely tense since the outbreak of the Gaza war more than three months ago. There have been no rocket attacks by the IRGC since then. However, Iranian-allied militant groups have often attacked targets in Syria and Iraq in recent months. Israel and the U.S. have been Iran's archenemies since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. A devastating terrorist attack in early January claimed the lives of more than 90 people in Iran. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack a short time later. Dpa