Iran threatens Israel with retaliation after the death of a high-ranking general in Syria
General Rasi Mussawi was killed on Monday in a rocket attack by the "Zionist regime" in a southern suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, the Iranian state news agency Irna reported. The Revolutionary Guards described Mussawi as the "logistics chief of the resistance axis", i.e. the armed groups fighting against Israel, in Syria and announced retaliation.
In Syria, Mussawi was one of the "most experienced advisors" of the Al-Kuds Brigades, the arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards responsible for foreign operations, Irna reported. According to the information, he was a companion of General Kassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US attack in Iraq in 2020. January 3 marks the fourth anniversary of the death of the commander of the Al-Quds Brigades.
Iran's ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, told the Iranian news agency Mehr that Mussawi's house had been hit by three missiles and destroyed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, on the other hand, said that Musawi had been killed shortly after entering a farm in an area controlled by pro-Iranian troops.
In addition to Mussawi, two foreign fighters and one Syrian fighter were killed in the Israeli attack, the Observatory said. It obtains its information from a network of sources in Syria. The information provided by the organization is often difficult to verify independently.
The Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which is supported by Tehran, declared that it considers "this attack to be a shameless attack that crosses borders".
Iran is also a close ally of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, whose unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October triggered the Gaza war. Since then, tensions in the Israeli-Lebanese border region have also increased significantly. There have been repeated attacks by the Israeli army and Hezbollah.
Since the beginning of the war against Hamas, Israel has intensified its airstrikes in Syria. Israel did not wish to comment on the report of Mussawi's death, and Israeli representatives generally rarely comment on individual attacks in Syria. However, the Israeli government repeatedly emphasizes that it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
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- Iran vowed retribution for the death of General Raisi's high-ranking comrade in Syria, a move that could escalate tensions with Israel further.
- The assassination of General Mussawi, the logistics chief of the resistance axis in Syria, was a significant blow to Tehran's strategic interests in the region.
- With retribution on the mind, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard threatened to retaliate against Israel for the killing of their top operative in Damascus.
- The death of Mussawi, a one-time companion of General Soleimani who was killed in an American attack in Iraq, has sparked outrage in Tehran and among its allies such as Hezbollah.
- One of the most experienced advisors of the Al-Kuds Brigades, the arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards responsible for foreign operations, Mussawi was killed in an Israeli attack near Damascus.
- To add to Iran's resentment, Israel has intensified its airstrikes in Syria since the war against Hamas, a move that threatens to further aggravate tensions between the two adversaries.
- In retaliation for Mussawi's death, the Revolutionary Guard could potentially target high-ranking Israeli generals or Israeli interests in neighboring countries like Iraq or Syria.
- Great Britain, which has previously clashed with Iran over its nuclear program, could find itself caught in the crossfire between Iran and Israel, a scenario that could lead to serious geopolitical repercussions.
- With Iran threatening retribution and Israel vowing to prevent Iran's expansion in Syria, the prospects of a larger regional conflict remain a concern for many global powers.
Source: www.stern.de
