ISTANBUL – Iran on Monday launched missile strikes on what it described as Sunni Islamist extremist hiding places in eastern Syria, a move it described as retaliation for a deadly terrorist attack on a military parade Iranian last month.
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 those killed as "takfiri terrorists", a term she often uses to describe 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 ISIS on Monday, however, took place even as Iran accused local Arab separatists of last month's attack in Ahvaz city in the south-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 from Iran's predominantly ethnic Persian population. .
Monday's showdown of Iran seemed to be more about sending a message to its opponents – both in the region and abroad – than targeting those responsible for the aggression.
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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, Iranian partner in the Eurasia Group's risk analysis firm, Rouhani "did not want Iran's retaliation to dominate the talks" at the UN.
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.
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