Iran's president says Israel will 'pay' for killing rebel leader in Syria

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi accused Israel of killing the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in an attack near Damascus, Syria, on Monday.There is definitely a price to pay for this crime». «This move is undoubtedly another sign of the desperation, helplessness and impotence of the usurping Zionist regime in the region.“, announced Ibrahim Raisi in a press release.

Iran's ideological army, the Revolutionary Guards, announced the death of one of its commanders in an Israeli strike in Syria on Monday, vowing to avenge his assassination. “Brigadier General Razi Mousavi, one of the Guards' most experienced advisers in Syria, was killed.“Once upon a time”The attack by the Zionist regime was carried out a few hours ago», the Guardian announced in a press release.

State television said Mousavi was targeted “Three missiles» The Sayyida Zeinab area, south of Damascus, broadcast images of smoke rising from the area where the attack took place. Guardians call General Mousavi “Logistics Manager of the Axis of Resistance» (Armed groups against Israel, editor's note) in Syria. “There is no doubt that the Zionist regime (…) will pay for this crime“, the Guardians assured in a press release.

No comments from Israel

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which has a wide network of sources in Syria, reported on Monday Israeli strikes on positions used by Iranian groups and Lebanese Hezbollah in Sayyida Zeynab district. Residents in the area reported hearing loud explosions and seeing smoke billowing from farms.

Israel rarely comments on its operations in Syria, but says it wants to prevent its arch-enemy Iran from establishing itself on its doorstep. Asked about Mousavi's death on Monday, the Israeli military said, “NoHe did not comment on reports from foreign media».

The Islamic Republic is one of the main international backers of the Palestinian movement Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attacks in Israel killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on the latest official figures, including Israelis. In early December, Iran announced the death of two Guard officers in Israeli airstrikes on Tehran-backed Hezbollah bases.

In the list “Foreign terrorist organizations»

In alliance with other pro-Iranian groups such as Hamas, the latter have fired daily rockets into northern Israel since October 7. The official Iranian agency IRNA added that Razi Moussavi was a “Deputy» General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force, the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards and a key figure of the Islamic Republic in the Middle East, was killed in a US strike in Iraq in early 2020.

As of 2019, the Quds Force is on the “” listForeign terrorist organizations» from the United States, but Iran insists its actions abroad are an example of regional cooperation aimed at strengthening stability and deterring Western interference. Militants affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards have a strong presence in Syria, but Tehran denies sending troops to fight in Syria, saying it has only military advisers in the war-torn country.

Iran, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, has provided him with economic, political and military support since the start of the war, which was unleashed in 2011 after the crackdown on anti-government protests.