Iran attacked Syria with long-range missile in message to Israel - analysis

Iran carried out a long-range attack on ISIS in northwest Syria this week, using its Kheibar Shekan ballistic missiles. The attack was a “message” for the US and Israel, according to Iranian media.

The Islamic Republic is now attacking random areas in Syria to show off its missile capabilities while using the cover of “striking terrorists” as a way to test the missiles’ precision.

This particular type of missile was unveiled in 2022. Iran claims it has a range of 1,450 km. and is supposed to have high-speed and precision-strike capabilities, which makes it a dangerous strategic weapon.

There is no evidence that Iran struck ISIS. It appears that it attacked an area of Syria controlled by Turkish-backed extremist groups to show off the missile’s capability.

Iran carried out attacks using missiles on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan. What Iran is doing here is flexing its muscles and showing off its capabilities, having openly claimed that its attacks on Iraq were targeting “spies” and “Zionists.”

Iran has also bragged in the past about the capabilities of the Kheibar Shekan missile (sometimes spelled Khyber Shikan). When the missile was unveiled, Turkish media said it was “likely to heighten tensions between Iran and Israel.”

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has now confirmed some of this. In a report on Thursday, it said the attack with four of these missiles by the IRGC was carried out so that “the Islamic Republic of Iran could send a clear message to the leaders of the United States and the Zionist regime.”

A new low for Iran

Iran is openly admitting that it used these missiles to send a message to the US and Israel, and that it targeted northwest Syria with the sole purpose of showing off.

This is a new low for Iran – firing missiles at countries just to threaten other countries. But it is also par for the course for the Tehran regime, which believes it has the impunity to attack Iraq, Syria, and other countries.

Iran views these countries as its “near abroad” and views them as colonies where it can test its missiles and weapons. Iran also uses the Houthis in Yemen to test its weapons and has been doing so since 2015, sending drones and missiles to Iraq, Yemen, and Syria and seeing if the new weapons achieve the goals for precision and strikes that Iran has set.

Tasnim now says Iran was targeting “Tahrir al-Sham and Hizb-e-Islami in northwestern Idlib, near the borders of Syria and Turkey.” Iran seems to be changing its narrative about the target, but it is also now openly admitting what it is up to.