Iran starts new phase of anti-terrorism campaign

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani pointed to the Sunday missile strike of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on ISIS positions in Syria, and said Tehran has started a new stage of anti-terrorism campaign.

“The missiles which hit the ISIS bases in Syria conveyed this message that Iran has entered a new phase of fight against terrorism,” Larijani said in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Tehran on Wednesday.

He also lauded Iraq’s efforts to drive the terrorist groups out of the country.

Abadi, for his part, said that Iraq is close to the annihilation of the ISIS and will always pioneer in the fight against terrorism.

The IRGC launched multiple missile strikes at the ISIS centers in Syria’s Deir Ezzur in retaliation for the June 7 twin terrorist attacks in Tehran, the IRGC said in a statement issued on Sunday, adding that the mid-range missiles were fire from bases in Western Iran.

“The Takfiri terrorists’ command center, concentration points and logistical centers used for assembling cars for suicide attacks in Deir Ezzur region in Eastern Syria came under attack by the IRGC moments ago in a move to punish the terrorists for the twin attacks on the Iranian parliament and the holy shrine of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, on June 7,” the statement issued by the IRGC Public Relations Office said.

“A number of mid-range ground-to-ground missiles fired from the IRGC Aerospace Force bases in Kermanshah and Kurdistan provinces targeted the Takfiri terrorists in this operation and struck them with lethal and crushing blows,” the statement said.

The statement further added that according to intel and reports, “a large number of Takfiri terrorists have been killed and their equipment, systems and weapons have been destroyed” in the operation.

The IRGC cautioned that the missile strikes were just a warning to deter any further action by the terrorists. “The IRGC warns the Takfiri terrorists and their regional and trans-regional supporters that they would be engulfed by its revolutionary wrath and flames of the fire of its revenge in case they repeat any such devilish and dirty move in future.”

An hour later, the IRGC put the number of the missiles at 6, and said that they flew through Iraq’s airspace.