Iran missiles target Ahvaz attack planners

TEHRAN SAYS DAESH MILITANTS IN SYRIA RESPONSIBLE FOR TERROR STRIKE

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards launched six ballistic missiles early yesterday towards eastern Syria, targeting militants it blamed for an attack on a military parade in Iran last month while also threatening regional adversaries as Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers unravels.

Iran’s supreme leader has called out regional rivals, accusing them of being behind the September 22 attack on the parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz.

The strike yesterday marked the second such attack by Iran in a month’s time and highlighted the greater tension felt across the Mideast as US sanctions targeting Tehran’s oil industry will take effect in early November.

Iranian state TV and the state-run IRNA news agency said the missiles “killed and wounded” militants in Syria, without elaborating. Iran also launched drone attacks on the site afterward, the TV said. Syrian regime media did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Strong explosions

Iranian TV identified the area from where the missiles were launched as in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah. It also aired a graphic, suggesting the missiles flew over central Iraq near the city of Tikrit before landing near the city of Al Bu Kamal in the far southeast of Syria.

Al Bu Kamal is held by forces loyal to Syria’s embattled Bashar Al Assad.

Rami Abdul Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told The Associated Press that the Iranian missiles hit the Daesh-held town of Hajin, just north of Al Bu Kamal.

Strong explosions shook the area in the early hours yesterday, reverberating east of the Euphrates River, he said. The area of Hajin and Daesh terrorists there have been under attack for weeks by US-backed Kurdish-led fighters. The US military’s Central Command, which is aiding Kurdish forces, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The missile launch further adds to confusion over who carried out the assault on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on September 22 that killed at least 24 people and wounded over 60.

In announcing the launch, Iranian state media said the missiles targeted both “takfiri” militants - a term it often applies to Daesh - and Ahvazi separatists. The separatists have not been known to work with Daesh in the past.