The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had used ballistic missiles against an ISIS base in Syria and a stronghold of the Israeli spy service Mossad in Iraq on Monday, in retaliation for the recent terrorist bombings in Iran.
Two explosions killed almost 100 people in Kerman on January 3, as pilgrims gathered to honor the late General Qassem Soleimani, killed by the US in 2021. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) claimed responsibility. Last month, another suicide bombing in the town of Rask killed 11 Iranian police. It was blamed on the Pakistan-based group Jaish Al-Adl.
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“In response to the recent crimes of the terrorist groups that unjustly martyred a group of our dear compatriots in Kerman and Rask, we have identified gathering places of commanders and elements of ISIS related to recent terrorist operations in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed them by firing several ballistic missiles,” the IRGC said in a statement.
In a follow-on statement, the IRGC said it had also used missiles against “one of the main espionage headquarters of the Zionist regime (Mossad) in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.”
The attack was “in response to the recent evils of the Zionist regime in martyring the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Resistance Front,” the IRGC added.
“We assure our beloved nation that the offensive operations of the IRGC will continue until the last drops of martyrs’ blood are avenged,” the group said.
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While the announcements did not specify the location of either strike, reports from Iraq suggested that the missiles struck the city of Erbil. Iran has attacked alleged Israeli targets in Erbil before, in March 2022, in reprisal over airstrikes in Syria that killed two IRGC officers.