Highlights: Iran strikes 'terrorist targets' in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria. At least four explosions were heard on both sides of Erbil. Images shared on social media show smoke trajectories from ballistic missiles near the US consulate. The attack in Erbil comes in retaliation for the recent assassinations of several commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, but also of leaders of the "axis of resistance" The Kurdistan Security Council accused Tehran of resorting to "baseless justifications" for its repeated bombing of the region.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced early Tuesday that they had fired several salvos of ballistic missiles at "terrorist" targets in Iraq and Syria, killing at least "four civilians...

Iran strikes 'terrorist targets' in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced early Tuesday that they had launched several salvos of ballistic missiles at "terrorist" targets in Iraq and Syria, killing at least "four civilians" in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to local authorities in the autonomous region.

Smoke rises from a destroyed building in Erbil after strikes by Iran's Revolutionary Guards. © RUDAW TV via Reuters

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At least four explosions were heard on both sides of Erbil. Images shared on social media show smoke trajectories from ballistic missiles near the US consulate, reports our correspondent in Erbil, Marion Fontenille. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted and destroyed "a spy headquarters" that they attributed to Israel, as well as "a gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups," according to the official IRNA news agency.

The Kurdish authorities report the death of at least four civilians. Among the victims were an influential Kurdish businessman and his entire family. Erbil airport is at a standstill. In a statement, the Kurdistan Security Council accused Tehran of resorting to "baseless justifications" for its repeated bombing of the region. "What happened is a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the region and Iraq. The federal government and the international community must not remain silent in the face of these crimes," the statement said.

According to IRNA, the attack in Erbil comes in retaliation for the recent assassinations of several commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, but also of leaders of the "axis of resistance", the name given to Tehran's allies in its fight against Israel. On January 2, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a strike attributed to Israel killed Hamas' second-in-command, Saleh al-Arouri, and six other leaders and cadres of the Palestinian Islamist movement. In mid-January, Wissam Tawil, a senior military official in Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah, was killed in southern Lebanon in a strike also attributed to Israel.

In Syria, the Guards Corps announced on its Sepah News website that it had "identified the gathering places of commanders and key elements linked to recent terrorist operations, in particular the Islamic State" and "destroyed them by firing a number of ballistic missiles." He explained that the attack in Syria was carried out "in response to the recent crimes of terrorist groups that have unjustly martyred a number of our dear compatriots in Kerman and Rask."

On January 3, assailants carried out a suicide bombing attack against a crowd gathered in Kerman, southern Iran, during a memorial ceremony near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the former architect of Iran's military operations in the Middle East, who was killed in January 2020 by a US strike in Iraq.

Iran strikes 'terrorist targets' in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria

Iran strikes 'terrorist targets' in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria

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