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Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards launched a missile attack against what they called \u201canti-Iranian terrorist groups\u201d in a northern Iraqi city, setting off large explosions and sirens, including at the American Consulate, around midnight on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The strike in the city of Erbil killed at least four civilians, according to the Kurdistan Regional Security Council in Iraq, and air traffic was diverted briefly, officials said.<\/p>\n
A separate ballistic missile attack hit targets in Syria connected to the Islamic State, the Guards said.<\/p>\n
A statement by the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the missile strike in Erbil had been aimed at \u201cthe destruction of espionage headquarters and places that anti-Iranian terrorist groups\u201d used to plan a suicide bombing attack in Kerman, Iran, that killed 86 people<\/a> this month at a memorial procession for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani<\/a>. The Guards also cited an assault in December on a police headquarters in Rask, Iran, that killed at least 11 officers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some Iranian leaders initially appeared to blame Israel for the attack at the Suleimani memorial, though the Islamic State claimed responsibility for it. In a statement later on Tuesday, the Revolutionary Guards appeared to return to the narrative that blamed Israel, saying the target in Erbil had been the local headquarters for Mossad, Israel\u2019s spy agency. Israel did not immediately respond.<\/p>\n The attacks at the memorial and at the police station were seen as signs of Iran\u2019s vulnerability to infiltration by extremist groups despite its formidable intelligence service and police capabilities.<\/p>\n Direct attacks by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, while not new, have been far less frequent than those conducted by Iran\u2019s proxies. Those militant groups have launched at least 130 assaults on U.S. installations in Iraq and Syria since the war in the Gaza Strip began in October, after Hamas led an attack in southern Israel that, Israeli officials say, killed 1,200 people. Israel retaliated by bombarding the strip, killing more than 23,000 people and displacing millions, according to Gazan health officials.<\/p>\n Several of the explosions early Tuesday occurred near a new U.S. Consulate in Erbil under construction, and several other explosions happened near the Erbil airport. An American official said: \u201cNo U.S. facilities were impacted. We\u2019re not tracking damage to infrastructure or injuries at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. State Department said: \u201cThe United States strongly condemns Iran\u2019s attacks in Erbil today and offers condolences to the families of those who were killed. We oppose Iran\u2019s reckless missile strikes, which undermine Iraq\u2019s stability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Erbil is the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq and is its most populous city. The Kurdish region\u2019s security council called on the international community to condemn the Iranian attack, which it described as \u201ca blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Kurdistan region and Iraq and the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, the council said that \u201cErbil is a stable region and has never been a threat to any party,\u201d adding: \u201cThe Revolutionary Guard said that the attack targeted several sites of Iranian opposition groups. Unfortunately, they always use baseless excuses to attack Erbil.\u201d<\/p>\n Kifah Mahmood, a former media adviser to Massoud Barzani, the retired longtime leader of Kurdistan, said the Revolutionary Guards had been trying to \u201ccover up their own security failure\u201d in Kerman by staging a retaliatory attack. \u201cBut unfortunately,\u201d he said, \u201cthe missiles landed on civilians and killed some, and injured others.\u201d<\/p>\n The attacks occurred as Iranian-linked groups have been targeting U.S. bases and camps in Iraq and Syria, and Iranian proxy groups like the Houthi militants in Yemen have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea amid Israel\u2019s war against Hamas, the group that controls parts of the Gaza Strip. They are acting, the Houthis say, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n Those attacks have heightened tensions in the Middle East, and raised the risk that an already dangerous situation would flare into greater regional violence.<\/p>\n Falih Hassan contributed from Baghdad, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n