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A New Phase in Anti-Terror War

A New Phase in Anti-Terror War
A New Phase in Anti-Terror War

“Terrorists must know that the Islamic Republic, as a powerful country in the region and the world, will not tolerate their destabilizing acts,” Boroujerdi said.  The attack was carried out in the final hours of Sunday, when six mid-range ballistic missiles were fired from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corp bases in the western provinces of Kordestan and Kermanshah. After passing through Iraqi airspace, the missiles hit positions of the self-styled IS in Syria’s Deir al Zour province 650 to 700 km from the launch sites. An IRGC statement on Sunday said the missiles hit “the command headquarters and gathering centers and logistical sites in which suicide car bombs were being assembled” with “pinpoint” accuracy and killed a “large number” of terrorists and destroyed their equipment and weapons. 

“IRGC warns takfiri terrorists and their regional and trans-regional sponsors that if the lowly and satanic measures against the Iranian nation are repeated, [our] revolutionary wrath ... will send criminals to hell,” he said. Takfiris are ultra-extremists inspired by Wahhabi ideology who believe followers of some Islamic sects, including Shias, are apostates punishable by death. Wahhabism is the hallmark of many terrorist groups operating in the Middle East, including the medieval Islamic State and Al Qaeda. 

  An Eye for an Eye

The Sunday strike, the first Iran missile attack targeting outside its territory since the end of Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), was in retaliation for the first Islamic State-claimed terrorist operation inside the territory of a chief adversary. On June 7, five IS-affiliated gunmen stormed Iran’s parliament and the Imam Khomeini mausoleum in Tehran, killing 18 people and wounding more than 50. The IRGC had vowed to avenge the bloodshed, saying that “the spilling of any innocent blood will not go unanswered.”

IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif said some of the missiles were of the “Zolfaqar” type, a precision-guided missile with a range of nearly 750 km unveiled last year.  Fars News Agency said the other missiles used were Qiam” missiles similar to Zolfaqar, citing unnamed sources. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the strikes highlight the benefits of Iran’s missile program. 

“Iran’s missile capability protects its citizens in lawful self-defense [and] advances common global fight to eradicate IS [and] extremist terror,” he wrote on Twitter. Bahram Qasemi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Syrian government was notified of the attack before it was carried out.  

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