The Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s ideological army, accused Israel on Monday of killing one of its commanders in an attack in Syria and vowed to avenge his death.
According to Iranian state television, the house of General Razi Moussavi was the target of an attack with “three missiles” in the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood, south of Damascus. The channel broadcast images of columns of smoke coming from the area.
Asked about the attack, the Israeli army stated that it “does not comment on foreign media news.”
Israel, which rarely comments on its operations in Syria, says it wants to prevent Iran, its sworn enemy, from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
In a statement, the Revolutionary Guards present “Brigadier General Moussavi” as “logistical chief of the resistance axis” (armed groups fighting against Israel) in Syria.
Moussavi was a companion of General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Revolutionary Guard unit and a key figure in the Islamic Republic in the Middle East, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in early 2020, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA. .
Iran, which does not recognize the existence of Israel, is considered, along with the Government of Syria, the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas movement, Iraqi groups and the Yemeni Houthi rebels, the “axis of resistance” to Israel in the Middle East .
“Razi Moussavi was killed in an attack by the Zionist regime” in Syria, the Revolutionary Guards announced, adding that “there is no doubt that the Zionist regime (…) will pay for this crime.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi also accused Israel of the attack.
“This action is, without a doubt, another sign of frustration, impotence and inability of the usurping Zionist regime in the region,” he said in a statement, adding that Israel “will undoubtedly pay for this crime.”
The Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, declared to the Iranian agency Mehr that “the general’s house was attacked, during the afternoon, by three missiles of the Zionist regime”, that the building “was destroyed” and the body “found in the yard”. “.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a wide network of sources in the country, reported Israeli attacks on the positions of Iranian and Hezbollah groups in Sayeda Zeinab, about 10 kilometers from the capital Damascus.
Earlier this month, Iran announced the deaths of two Revolutionary Guard officers in Israeli airstrikes against facilities belonging to Hezbollah.
Iran and Hezbollah have aided the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011.
Since then, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against neighboring Syria, mainly targeting militias supported by Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian army.
Source: TSF
