• The US criticized Iran for its “reckless and imprecise” missile attacks near Iraq’s northern city of Irbil.
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have targeted Israeli “spy headquarters” in Iraq.
• The attack resulted in four deaths and six injuries.

Condemning Iran for ballistic missile attacks near Iraq’s northern city of Irbil, the US characterized the strikes as “reckless and imprecise.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have targeted Israeli “spy headquarters” in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

The attack on Monday resulted in four deaths and six injuries, according to the Kurdistan Region Security Council. Iraq denounced the attacks, citing a violation of its sovereignty. Israel’s government has not stated the Iranian claims.

The Iranian strikes occurred amid escalating tensions in the region since the outbreak of the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on 7 October. The conflict has increasingly involved militias allied with Iran operating in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

“We will continue to assess the situation, but initial indications are that this was a reckless and imprecise set of strikes,” Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement.

“The United States supports the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Iraq,” she said, adding that no US personnel or facilities were targeted.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards:

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for destroying “one of the main Mossad espionage headquarters in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region with ballistic missiles.” The statement asserted that the action was “in response to the recent atrocities of the Zionist regime.”

Iran has previously conducted missile attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan, targeting sites it identified as being used by Iranian separatist groups and agents of Israel.

The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, condemned the recent attack on Irbil as a “crime against the Kurdish people.” Among the four civilians killed was a prominent businessman, Peshraw Dizayee, according to Mr. Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party.

The Revolutionary Guards also reported targeting positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria on Monday night. Reports surfaced of explosions in the north-western city of Aleppo and its countryside. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor stated that “at least four missiles that came from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea” fell.

The Revolutionary Guards stated that the strikes in Syria were in retaliation for a suicide bombing earlier in the month that targeted crowds commemorating the anniversary of the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani by the US. The attack in Kerman, southern Iran, resulted in at least 94 deaths and numerous injuries.

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