Iran launches missiles into eastern Syria

A spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films".

The missile attack was the first by Iran outside its own territory in 30 years, since the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, media in the Islamic republic has reported.

Earlier on Monday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that the Sunday attack on the "terrorists" in Syria's eastern region of Deir ez-Zor had been coordinated with the Syrian government. Wahhabism is the hallmark of many terrorist groups operating in the Middle East, including the medieval Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

Iranian security forces have arrested dozens of people suspected of involvement in the attacks during the past 10 days, the majority in Iran's mainly Kurdish province of Kordestan, which shares a border with Iraq.

"A large number of Takfiri terrorists have been killed and their equipment, systems and weapons have been destroyed" in the operation, claimed Iranian security.

Shiite-majority Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia have always been embroiled in a sectarian feud.

Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, called on the USA military to provide a full accounting as to why it chose to shoot down the Syrian Su-22 bomber.

"Iran is among the world's big powers in the missile field", Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, chief of staff for the Iranian Armed Forces, was quoted as saying on Monday. As The Long War Journal points out, "To reach Deir el-Zor in eastern Syria, the missiles' flight-path would have had to include Iraq".

Five Islamic State-linked attackers stormed Iran's parliament and a shrine to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on June 7, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 50.

The Revolutionary Guards vowed last week that "the spilling of any innocent blood" will not go unanswered as it blamed Saudi Arabia for the twin attacks. These missile attacks are in retaliation for two deadly attacks that struck Tehran on June 7th, 2017.

The Guards said it fired six missiles from the west of Iran into Syria's mostly IS-held Deir Ezzor province.

Nobakht further underlined that Iran's military clout is non-negotiable and that the country's nuclear deal of 2015 does not restrict its missile program.

Since Trump took office, his administration has described putting Iran "on notice" over the missile tests and put new economic sanctions on those allegedly involved with the program.

US critics of new pressure on Iran, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, say the new Senate sanctions could undermine the deal [g][h].