Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for ballistic missile attacks on northern Iraq’s Kurdish regional capital of Erbil on March 13, saying that the strikes targeted an Israeli “strategic center” in the city. Iranian state media reported that the missiles were aimed at “Mossad bases” in Erbil. The IRGC had days earlier vowed to seek revenge against Israel, saying the Zionist state will “pay the price” for killing two of its guards in recent Israeli air-strikes on targets in the Syrian capital Damascus. Erbil’s governor Omed Khoshnaw denied any Israeli military or intelligence presence in the city, calling the accusation “baseless.” The estimated 12 rocket strikes took no casualties, but caused damage to civilian properties and triggered panic among the populace in neighborhoods of Erbil. (Rudaw, Rudaw, Al Jazeera)
The missile strikes come a little more than a year after a rocket attack on Erbil by an Iran-backed militia.
Map: UNHCR via ReliefWeb
Israel bombs Syria —again
Israel launched new air raids on locations in Syria where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have a presence, a human rights monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said loud blasts were reported on April 9 evening in the vicinity of Masyaf in western Hama province. No casualties were reported. (Al Jazeera)