IRGC says it targeted ‘anti-Iranian’ groups in Iraq’s Erbil

Iran has claimed responsibility for an attack in northern Iraq that killed at least four people and wounded six others. Missiles and drone attacks were launched in Erbil, near the airport, causing flights to be suspended. However, they have now resumed.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard states that it was targeting spy centers used by Israel's intelligence service, Mossad. The Prime Minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region has condemned the attack, describing it as cowardly.

Additionally, Iran targeted ISIL in Syria in retaliation for bombings in Iran earlier this month.

Sina Azodi is an adjunct professor at George Washington University. He says this attack by Iran is linked to Israel's war on Gaza, but does not represent a major escalation.

He said the Iranian strikes on northern Syria and Erbil in Iraq overnight are significant but do not signal a new regional escalation amid the war in Gaza.

Iran has said the strikes were retaliation for recent “terrorist” attacks inside its territory as well as the killing of several of its commanders, Azodi told Al Jazeera.

“As long as the conflict in Gaza continues, we will see actions. But I don’t believe that this is an escalation,” Azodi said, noting that the US State Department had issued a statement saying, basically, that the Iranians “were not targeting us”.

“So, the US is kind of playing it down too,” he said.

“Iranians have repeatedly said that they are not interested in escalating the conflict. But, again, I think that as long as the conflict in Gaza continues, we will see actions like this,” he added.

“My main concern is, one of these attacks, there could be casualties, US casualties, which would force the United States to respond and then it could escalate without anyone actually wanting war.”

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