2024 Iranian missile strikes in Iraq and Syria
On 15 January 2024, Iran carried out a series of aerial and drone strikes within Iraq and Syria, claiming that it had targeted the regional headquarters of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and several strongholds of terrorist groups in response to the Kerman bombings on 3 January, for which the Islamic State took responsibility. The city of Erbil, which is the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, was the target of 11 of the 15 total missiles that were fired. The remaining four missiles were directed at Syria's Idlib Governorate, targeting areas held by the Syrian opposition. In Erbil itself, the Iranian attack killed four civilians and injured 17 others. Iran's claims of having targeted the Israeli presence in Kurdistan and terrorist groups in Syria were rejected by the Iraqi government and the autonomous Kurdish government, both of which condemned the attack.
Background
On 3 January 2024 a commemorative ceremony marking the assassination of Qasem Soleimani at his grave in Kerman, Iran, was attacked by two bomb explosions. The attacks killed at least 94 people, and injured 284 others. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attacks. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, pledged a "hard response" to the attack and declared that those responsible "will be the definite target of repression and just punishment from now on".Attacks
Iraqi Kurdistan
The attack in Erbil targeted the residence of Peshraw Dizayee, the CEO of Empire World, a real estate development company, killing him along with his daughter, their housekeeper, and businessman Karam Mikhail. Erbil International Airport was temporarily closed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly took responsibility. In addition, coalition forces shot down three drones near the airport. Tasnim News Agency revealed that four ballistic missiles launched from Kermanshah province and seven others fired from West Azarbaijan province were used during the attack, during which Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missiles were reportedly used.Syria
The IRGC claimed it also struck Islamic State forces in northwestern Syria with four missiles, specifically targeting the perpetrators of the 2024 Kerman bombings on 3 January. Tasnim News Agency reported that the IRGC Aerospace Force launched four Kheibar Shekan medium-range ballistic missiles from Darkhoveyn District in Khuzestan province at midnight, traveling a distance of to hit targets near Taltita in Idlib Governorate.According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Iran was unlikely to have conducted its attack in Syria using medium-range ballistic missiles given on the limited scale of damage. Instead, the observatory stated that the attack was likely carried out by Iranian-backed groups situated in Aleppo Governorate in Syria, approximately from the impact zone.