US condemns Iran missile strikes in northern Iraq, Syria
Iran fired missiles late Monday at what it said were Israeli spy headquarters near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, a northern Iraqi city, and at targets in northern Syria linked to the extremist Islamic State, The Associated Press reported.
In a statement released Monday, the State Department strongly condemned the missile strikes and offered condolences to the families of those who were killed.
Four civilians were killed and six were injured after missiles struck the area in Erbil, the security council for Iran’s autonomous Kurdish region said, per the AP.
“We oppose Iran’s reckless missile strikes, which undermine Iraq’s stability. We support the Government of Iran and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement.
Miller’s statement did not provide an update on any injuries or damage to infrastructure at any American bases in the area of the strikes. But a U.S. defense official, who spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity, said no U.S. facilities were struck in the attack.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it fired at the “espionage headquarters and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups.”
Iran has long claimed that Israel operates a secret base in Iraq used by its spy agency Mossad.
The strikes come at a time of heightened tension in the area, amid fears of a larger regional war potentially stemming from Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Since the start of the Oct. 7 war between Israel and Hamas, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq have launched drone attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria on a near-daily basis, the AP reported. The group said it was launching the attacks in retaliation for the U.S. supporting Israel and as an attempt to remove American troops from the area.
Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran on Tuesday and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affairs in Baghdad in protest over the strikes, the AP reported.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and contradicts “the principles of good neighborliness and international law, and threatens the security of the region.”
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