Iran 'flexes muscles' amid Gaza war fallout: analysts
strikes in Syria and Iraq, Iran has sought to «flex its muscles» in the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war without provoking a confrontation with the United States, analysts said.
In neighbouring Iraq, the strikes by Iran's Revolutionary Guards targeted an alleged Israeli «spy headquarters» in the autonomous Kurdish region in response to the assassination of Iranian and pro-Iranian commanders in recent weeks.
In Syria, the strikes targeted the Islamic State jihadist group in response to twin suicide bombings that killed around 90 people at an official memorial event in southern Iran earlier this month.
«There was an immense amount of pressure on the leadership in Tehran to flex its muscles in response to a series of setbacks it had suffered for the past few weeks,» Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group told AFP.
«This is kind of a show of force with the twin objective of satisfying core constituents at home and also without escalating tensions with the US and Israel.»
The US State Department condemned the Iranian strikes as «reckless» but a White House spokesperson said no US personnel or facilities were hit.
Iraq summoned Iran's envoy in Baghdad and recalled its ambassador from Tehran for consultations in a sharp rebuke to its ally over the «attack on its sovereignty».
Iraq's National Security Adviser Qassem al-Araji challenged Iran's claim that the target of the Arbil strike was an Israeli intelligence headquarters, saying after a tour of the damaged building that it showed every evidence of having been the family home of an Iraqi businessman.
— 'Avoid war' -
The official IRNA news agency said the Syria attack was «the longest missile launch by Iran with a range of 1,200
