Iran has fired missiles at what it claimed were Israeli “spy headquarters” near the US consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil and at targets linked to the extremist group Islamic State in northern Syria.
Four civilians were killed and six injured on Monday when missiles hit an upscale area near the consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the security council of the Kurdish regional government.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement it had hit a headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Another statement said it had fired a number of ballistic missiles at “terrorist operations”, including Islamic State targets, in Syria and destroyed them.
The strikes come at a time of heightened tensions in the region and fears of a wider spillover of the ongoing war in Gaza.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched near-daily drone attacks on bases housing US forces in Iraq and Syria, which the groups have said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel, and in an attempt to force US troops to leave the region.
The US strongly condemns “Iran’s reckless missile strikes” in Irbil, state department spokesman Matthew Miller said. He added that the attacks “undermine Iraq’s stability.”
A US defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US tracked the missilescand no US facilities were struck or damaged in the attacks.
The official said initial indications were that the strikes were “reckless and imprecise”.
An Iraqi security official said Irbil was targeted with “several” ballistic missiles but did not give further details.
An official with an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia said 10 missiles fell in the area near the US consulate. He said the missiles were launched by Iran’s revolutionary guards.