TEHRAN – At least a dozen ballistic missiles landed inside a vast compound that Iran says is used by the Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence agency.

The missiles hit the compound early Sunday morning, wrecking damage to a set of buildings under construction and reportedly killing a number of agents.

The Beirut-based news television Al-Mayadeen said some agents were killed and injured in the attack. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the news channel said the attack was carried out with more than 10 precision-guided ballistic missiles that succeeded in targeting an Israeli intelligence and security headquarters in the vicinity of Erbil. The sources confirmed that the attack led to the destruction of the Mossad headquarters on the Masif road on the outskirt of Erbil.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted an Israeli “center of conspiracy” in the Kurdish city. “Following the recent crimes of the fake Zionist regime and the previous announcement that the crimes and evils of this infamous regime will not go unanswered, the strategic center for conspiracy and evil of the Zionists was targeted by powerful and pinpoint missiles of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps,” the IRGC said in a statement. 

It also warned Israel against further moves against Iran. “Once again, we warn the criminal Zionist regime that the repetition of any evil will face harsh, decisive and destructive responses.” 

The statement added, “We also assure the great nation of Iran that the security and peace of the Islamic homeland is the red line of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and they will not allow anyone to threaten or attack it.”

The IRGC missile operation came after the military organization vowed to give an answer to Israel over the Israeli targeting of two IRGC colonels in Damascus. Last week on Monday, Israel targeted a Damascus suburb. The attack resulted in the assassination of two senior IRGC officers identified as Colonel Ehsan Kabralaei-Pour and Colonel Morteza Saeid-Nejad.  

The Sunday attack, however, does not seem to be a response to this attack. The IRGC statement didn’t mention the Damascus attack. And Iranian media said the missile operation was a response to a previously unreported Israeli “mischiefs” conducted from Iraqi soil. 

A source familiar with the matter told Tasnim News Agency that Israel has carried out some “evil acts” from Iraqi Kurdistan and that the IRGC decided to give it a response whence it orchestrated its mischief. 

“Some of the recent Zionist atrocities against Iran have taken place from Iraqi soil, and for this reason, the IRGC intended to punish the regime on the same soil,” the source told Tasnim.

The source also warned that Israel will receive a similar or even more powerful response if it continues its evil acts against Iran. 

Recently, the Iranian Intelligence Directorate in Western Azerbaijan Province announced the dismantling of an espionage network working for Israel and recruiting agents to carry out sabotage operations in Iran.

The province shares long, porous borders with Iraqi Kurdistan along which Iranian security forces have long been fighting Kurdish counterrevolutionary groups.

The Directorate said that during the past month, fatal strikes were inflicted on the “largest Israeli spy network in West Azerbaijan.”

In May of 2021, Iran announced the dismantling of three “espionage networks” in the same province.

Tasnim’s source said the IRGC missiles targeted a meeting of a considerable number of Israelis and that “given that a large number of individuals were present in the base, the likelihood of human casualties of Israel is ‘very high’.”

Al-Mayadeen, citing separate sources, said that “Iran confirmed the killing of 4 Israeli officers, including a female officer, and the injury of 7, including 4 in critical condition.”