Jay Solomon reports for Semafor this morning that commanders and advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are on the ground in Yemen and playing a direct role in Houthi rebel attacks on commercial traffic in the Red Sea. Solomon’s story is posted here. Semafor provides this summary of the story in its Principals newsletter (links omitted):
Iran has deployed personnel from its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Yemen, according to Semafor’s Jay Solomon, who reports they are “playing a direct role in Houthi rebel attacks on commercial traffic in the Red Sea.” The advisers include missile and drone trainers and operators and personnel providing intelligence support to the Houthis. Iran has also transferred drones, cruise missiles, and medium-range ballistic missiles to them through its Qods Force. The news adds another layer of danger to the confrontations between the U.S. and Houthis in the Red Sea, and may further raise concerns about a widening war. The U.S. military said Monday that an American-owned commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden was struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile, a day after the Pentagon said it shot down a Houthi missile fired at a U.S. destroyer in the Red Sea. Those attacks followed U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. And in Iraq on Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards took responsibility for strikes in Erbil that it said targeted “the espionage headquarters of Israel’s Mossad in Iraq’s Kurdistan.” The strikes were close to the U.S. consulate, but the White House said no U.S. personnel or facilities were targeted. The U.S. condemned the strikes, calling them “reckless.”
The New York Post has more details on the IRGC targets in Iraqi Kurdistan:
A rocket struck the home of the multimillionaire [Pershraw Dizayi], who has a large portfolio of real estate and security services companies and was close to the Kurdish ruler.
Another rocket hit the house of a senior Kurdish intelligence official and a third struck a Kurdish intelligence center, Iraqi security sources told Reuters.
Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called the rocket strikes a “crime against the Kurdish people.”
No US facilities were struck or damaged, a US official told the Associated Press. Neither the new US consulate building nor the US troop base in Erbil International Airport appeared to be targeted.
But an anonymous official with an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia told the AP that 10 missiles launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fell in the affluent area near the large new consulate.
A US defense official who spoke to the outlet on the condition of anonymity to discuss not yet public details said the US had tracked the missiles and initial indications found they were “reckless and imprecise.”
Iran said it struck the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in a statement claiming responsibility for the strikes.
So far as I can tell, none of the stories on these attacks quotes President Biden’s comment of a few days ago: “I’ve already delivered the message to Iran. They know not to do anything.”
Three days ago: https://t.co/d899DCRPrf
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 15, 2024
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