Iran fires missiles at militant groups in eastern Syria

Iran fired missiles on Sunday into eastern Syria, aiming at the bases of militant groups it holds responsible for attacks in Tehran which left 18 dead last week, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.

Tasnim reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards launched the mid-range ground-to-ground missiles from western Iran into the Deir al Zour region of eastern Syria, killing a “large number” of terrorists and destroying their equipment and weapons.

The news agency reported that missiles targeted the “headquarters and gathering centres of Takfiri terrorists supporting and building car bombs”.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Military leaders and officials in Iran, a predominantly Shi’ite country, often refer to Sunni Muslim radicals as Takfiris.

The Revolutionary Guards are fighting in Syria against militant groups who oppose President Bashar al-Assad.

The attack last week, which included shootings and at least one suicide bombing, was on Iran’s parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

“The spilling of any pure blood will not go unanswered,” the Revolutionary Guards said in the statement quoted by Tasnim.

Islamic State issued a statement claiming responsibility for the Tehran attack.

Senior Iranian officials, however, have pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Sunni regional rival.

(Reuters/NAN)