Iran strikes targets in northern Iraq and Syria as regional tensions escalate

Smoke rising from a building hit by a strike in Irbil (Rudaw TV via AP)

Iran has fired missiles at what it claimed were Israeli “spy headquarters” near the US consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil and at targets linked to the extremist group Islamic State in northern Syria.

Four civilians were killed and six injured on Monday when missiles hit an upscale area near the consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the security council of the Kurdish regional government.