Iran fires missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria to take revenge on military parade attack

ISTANBUL – Iran on Monday launched missile strikes against what it called Islamic extremist Sunni hiding places in eastern Syria.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps reported firing six medium-range missiles at Syria from bases in western Iran at 2 am local time, east of the Euphrates, and killing and wounding several activists. He said his combat drones then targeted the sites.

A statement on the Guard's website described the peopletakfiri "terrorist", a term he often uses to refer to Islamic State. The militant group still holds pockets of territory in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour, where US troops are helping local fighters defeat the extremists.

The strikes against the Islamic State on Monday however took place even as Iran had blamed the local Arab separatists for last month's attack in the city of Ahvaz, in the south-east. west of the country. During this assault, during a military parade on September 22, gunmen killed at least two dozen people, including a four-year-old boy. Iran has identified the five perpetrators as Ahvaz residents.

But the Islamic State and a local separatist group both claimed responsibility for the attack. Iran has accused its regional rivals, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, of supporting local Arab nationalists, who fought for their autonomy vis-à-vis the ethnic Persian population of Iran. l & # 39; Iran.

Iran 's showdown on Monday seemed more aimed at sending a message to its opponents – in the region and abroad – than to target those responsible for the assault.

At least four of the missiles have landed in the Hajin region of eastern Syria, where the Islamic State is still active, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in Britain. The Revolutionary Guard said the missiles had traveled 350 km from the Iranian province of Kermanshah to Syria. Iran, however, commands several proxy proxy forces in Syria that are stationed nearby.

The strikes also ended a week of Iranian diplomacy at the United Nations, where President Hassan Rouhani sought to rally European and other nations to oppose US efforts to target Iran.

According to Henry Rome, an Iranian partner in the Eurasia Group's risk analysis firm, Rouhani "did not want Iranian retaliation to dominate the talks" in the UK.

This is the second time in a month that Iran has been firing medium-range ballistic missiles at militant groups in Syria and Iraq. Last month, Iran launched missiles on Kurdish militants based in Iraq.

Bijan Sabbagh contributed to the reports.

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