Alwaght- In the early hours of Tuesday, strong blasts rocked Erbil in northern Iraq and Idlib in northwestern Syria, bringing the two cities to a global focus.
Shortly after the explosions, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) published a statement saying that “in response to the recent evil actions of the Zionist regime in martyring the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and the Resistance front, the Revolutionary Guards with intelligence dominance over the headquarters and movements of this regime in the region targeted one of the main headquarters of Israeli spying agency Mossad in Kurdistan region with ballistic missiles. This site has been the center for the development of espionage operations and the design of terrorist activities in the region and especially in Iran. We assure our beloved nation that the offensive operations of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will continue until the last drops of martyrs’ blood are avenged.”
After the attack, which was conducted with pinpoint-accuracy missiles, an Iraqi official told ABC News that Iran’s heavy strikes targeted 8 positions near the American consulate in Erbil. Sky News reported initially that the aim of the attack was a military base operated by the US-led Western coalition in Erbil International Airport, but American officials told Reuters that American facilities took no damage as a result of the these strikes.
Washington and Erbil leaders’ reactions
As expected, the IRGC strikes on terror and spying sites have not appealed to some regional and international actors who immediately took stances against them.
The US State Department spokesman Mathew Miller said “we oppose Iran’s reckless missile strikes, which undermine Iraq’s stability.”
Iraqi Kurdistan region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani condemned them and called on Iraqi government and world community to act to stop these attacks.
The claim of the leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party that Iran has violated the sovereignty of Iraq comes as Iranian officials have repeatedly warned the leaders of Erbil in recent years that they should remove the Mossad spies and separatist groups that pose serious threats to Iran’s national security. Even after last year’s riots in some Iranian cities, which were led by terrorist groups based in the Kurdish region, the IRGC carried out attacks on the headquarters of separatist groups, and in March last year Iran signed a security agreement with Iraqi central government, according to which within six months, separatist groups were to be removed away from Iranian borders.
Although during this period terrorist were forced away from some of their headquarters in Erbil under Iranian pressures on Iraqi officials to fulfill their obligations, the KDP is obstructionist to the removal process. This means that threats to Iran’s territories posed from Kurdistan region are not completely eliminated. Additionally, an Iraqi official has recently said that some obstacles remain in the way of full execution of Tehran-Baghdad security deal, including refusal of some Kurdish militias to lay down arms or retreat from their positions.
Kurdish leaders hide behind central government under the excuse of violation of Iraqi sovereignty while over the past year they have failed to comply to the terms of the security deal which essentially rests on respect to good neighborliness, security and intelligence cooperation, and preventing risks to Iranian territorial integrity. One of the main violations of this agreement is the secret cooperation between Erbil and Tel Aviv with American mediation which turns the Kurdish region into a backyard for terrorist and sabotage operations targeting Iran.
Indeed, Erbil’s obstruction of the implementation of this security agreement is against the policy of good neighborliness, and the leaders of Erbil must remove the Israeli spies and terrorists in this autonomous region forever if they want no more such attacks and peace.
Last night’s attack on Mossad’s spy nest occurred while last year in response to Israel’s warmongering, the IRGC destroyed the Mossad headquarters in Erbil with a precision attack, during which one of Mossad’s senior staffers was killed. Hitting Mossad spy headquarters in Kurdistan region demonstrates the fact that despite Tel Aviv’s efforts to keep its espionage activities secret, the Islamic Republic has complete intelligence dominance over their activities and can strike them any time it chooses.
With its missile attack on the Mossad site in Erbil, the IRGC sent a message to the leaders of Tel Aviv that the era of hit and run is over and that Tehran from now on will not tolerate Israeli crimes or sabotage. In the past month, the Israeli regime assassinated three resistance commanders from Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, thinking that it could restore its image after its strategic defeat foisted on it by Operation the Al-Aqsa Storm. But with these missile strikes, the IRGC showed that it will take a hard revenge for the martyrs.
Attack on Idlib; breaking Tel Aviv’s terror wings
In addition to Mossad sites, positions of Syria-based terrorists were not immune to IRGC strikes. In their statement, the Revolutionary Guards said: “In response to recent crime of terrorist elements in martyring a number of our compatriots in Kerman and Rask, we detected, especially in northern Syria, and targeted a gathering site of commanders and elements related to the recent terrorist operations with a number of ballistic missiles. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps assure the great nation of Iran that we find the terrorist groups wherever they are and publish them. “
According to Al-Mayadeen news network, in the missile attacks on the headquarters of Syrian terrorists, training camps, logistics support headquarters and a medical facility belonging to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and Turkestan Party terrorist groups were targeted in Idlib province.
“This area is where ISIS terrorists from Khorasan branch of the group receive training and are transported by the Americans to Afghanistan and the border of Iran to carry out attacks inside Iran,” sources told Al-Mayadeen.
These sources added that this attack was carried out using 7 missiles and a number of attack drones.
After blasts in Kerman on January 3 that targeted civilians marking fourth anniversary of anti-terror General Qassam Soleimani who was killed in 2020 by the US, the Americans claimed that the Khorasan branch of ISIS had carried out these terrorist attacks in a bid to clear Washington from charges of complicity to the terrorists and bring Iran face to face with Afghanistan.
But by striking the Idlib-based terrorists, Iran showed it accurately tracked ringleaders and plotters of attacks to Syria, where takfiri terrorists act under America protection and over the past years met American officials in an effort to destabilize Syria afresh and re-implement their failed schemes. Thus, the terrorist operations in Kerman are indirectly designed by the Americans and the Israelis, who, as the godfathers of terrorists, want to execute the death by a thousand stabs strategy against Iran.
Attacks on Syria-based terrorists came as after Kerman attacks, saddened Iranians called for a hard revenge for the main perpetrators. In reaction, Iranian military officials promised that they will punish those behind the attacks.
Tehran’s warning to Tel Aviv
Missile strikes on takfiri positions in Syria can be seen from another aspect. These attacks, unprecedented in their kind, carried a warning to Tel Aviv that Tehran is capable of striking the occupied territories.
Reacting to IRGC attacks, Israeli media announced that this is the first time that Iran launches operational missiles up to a distance of 1230 kilometers. It seems that with this attack, the Israelis are afraid that Tehran has fired its missiles just next door and in case of a possible conflict, it can destroy major Israeli sites, including the Dimona nuclear reactor and strategic ports of Haifa and Tel Aviv at the Mediterranean coast.
These ports, which are plagued due to ongoing Gaza war, can be totally crippled should a full-scale confrontation with Iran and resistance groups breaks out. This will deal a great blow to the embattled Israeli economy.
In viewpoint of Tehran, regional terrorist groups are American and Israeli-bred and to restore peace to the Islamic world, the head of the snake, namely Israel, should be hit. Actually, striking Mossad site in Erbil came to eliminate the shadow of Israeli threats from the region.
