Tehran strikes ‘terror bases’ in Pakistan, Israeli ‘spy HQ’ in Iraq

Tehran/Baghdad, January 16

Iran launched attacks on Tuesday in Pakistan targeting what it described as bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl, state media reported. Those reports were then suddenly removed without explanation. The state-run IRNA news agency and state television had said that missiles and drones were used in the attack, which was not immediately acknowledged by Pakistan. Jaish al-Adl is a Sunni militant group which largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Sovereignty violated, claims Baghdad

Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran for consultations and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad in protest over Iranian strikes, claiming several civilians overnight.

Late on Monday evening, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they launched ballistic missiles targeting the “spy headquarters” of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. It also claimed that it had struck in Syria against the Islamic State.

On Tuesday, Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran for consultations and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad in protest over Iranian strikes. Iraqi Foreign Ministry said the Iranian strikes killed several civilians overnight. “The Iranian attack was a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, strongly contradicting the principles of good neighbourliness and international law, and threatenining the security of the region,” it said in a statement.

Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards stated that its strikes were in response to the “recent atrocities of the Zionist regime, causing the killing of commanders of the Guards and the Axis of Resistance”.

The Guards said they also “fired a number of ballistic missiles in Syria and destroyed the perpetrators of terrorist operations” in Iran, including the IS. The Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the two explosions in Iran this month that killed over 100 people. — Agencies