Iran Shells ‘Terrorist Positions’ in Iraq’s Irbil

IRGC says five arrested along Iran-Iraq border

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has launched an artillery attack across the border into neighboring Iraq, hitting the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, the city of Irbil.

The IRGC says the attacks targeted positions of “terrorist groups,” there were no indications of any casualties, and the IRGC was vague on what terrorist groups they were targeting.

This is almost certainly related to an IRGC operation Tuesday, in which they captured five “terrorists” who were also from Irbil. They didn’t identify the group then, either, but reported the group confessed to planning sabotage attacks.

Back in March, Iran fired missiles at Irbil, hitting a building they claimed was used by Israel to plan sabotage attacks inside Iran. It’s not clear if today’s shelling is related to the same Israel-Iran regional conflict, or is some other group that also happens to be operating out of Irbil.

This is a concern Iran has had for awhile, as they’ve been warning Iraq against letting groups use their territory as a staging ground for attacks on Iran.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.