The Daily Star (Bangladesh)/AFP, Tehran/ Tue Dec 26, 2023 12:49 AM
A senior general with Iran's Revolutionary Guards was killed
Monday by an Israeli strike in Syria, the military force said, with Tehran
vowing to make Israel "pay for this crime".
Iranian state media also reported the death of Razi
Moussavi, describing him as "one of the most experienced advisors" of
Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has repeatedly said it
will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi expressed condolences for Moussavi's death,
saying Israel "will certainly pay for this crime".
The general "was killed during an attack by the Zionist regime a few
hours ago in Zeinabiyah district in the suburbs of Damascus," official
news agency IRNA reported, using a different name for Sayyida Zeinab south of
the Syrian capital.
Moussavi was "active in the field of providing logistical support to
the axis of resistance in Syria," IRNA said, referring to groups backed by
Tehran and arrayed against Israel.
The IRGC in a statement said Moussavi was killed in a "missile
attack" and also vowed to avenge his death.
The statement noted that Moussavi was a companion of General Qassem
Soleimani, Iran's revered Quds commander who was killed in Baghdad in a US
drone strike in 2020.
Next week Iran will mark the fourth anniversary of Soleimani's
assassination, and Moussavi was the most senior Quds Force general killed
since.
Iran's state TV said Moussavi was targeted by "three missiles" and
aired footage showing smoke rising from the area of the strike.
A Britain-based monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported
Israeli strikes on positions used by Iranian groups and by Lebanon's powerful
Tehran-aligned Hezbollah in the Sayyida Zeinab area.
Residents reported hearing loud explosions and seeing columns of smoke
rising from farms in the area.
Since Syria's civil war began in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of air
strikes on its northern neighbour, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and
Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.
On December 2, the IRGC accused Israel of killing two of its members in
Syria, where the force said they had been on an advisory mission, without
providing further details.
Israel, which rarely comments on reported strikes in Syria, has intensified
attacks there particularly against Hezbollah since the start of its war against
Hamas -- also backed by Iran -- triggered by the Palestinian militant group's
October 7 attacks.
The Islamic republic, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, has
hailed the deadly attacks on southern Israel as a "success" but
denied any direct involvement.
Iran does not recognise Israel and has made support for the Palestinian
cause a centrepiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.