Iran vows retaliation against Israel for deadly attack
Iran is a close ally of Hamas, which has been fighting Israel on a massive scale since its attack in early October. However, Iran is also working closely with Syria, which is central to the "axis of resistance" against Israel. The death of a high-ranking general is causing additional tensions.
According to Tehran, a high-ranking general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been killed in Syria in an Israeli airstrike. General Rasi Mussawi was killed in an attack in a southern suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, the Iranian state news agency Irna reported. "The Zionist regime (Israel) will definitely pay for the martyrdom of our longtime military adviser," a press release from the Revolutionary Guards said. The Israeli military said it does not comment on foreign media reports. In general, the country rarely comments on individual attacks in Syria.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also declared that Israel would "certainly pay for this crime". Mussawi was one of the "most experienced advisors" in Syria to the Al-Kuds Brigades, the branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards responsible for foreign operations, Irna further 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 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 the beginning of the war against Hamas, Israel has intensified its airstrikes in Syria.
Israel regularly attacks targets in Syria to prevent Iran from expanding its military influence there with the help of militias. Together with Russia, Iran is the most important ally of the Syrian government under ruler Bashar al-Assad. For Tehran, Syria is part of the so-called "axis of resistance" in the fight against Israel, alongside the Shia organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, Tehran always claims that the Revolutionary Guards personnel in Syria are only active as military advisors and are not directly involved in the civil war there.
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Iran has condemned Israel for its role in General Rasi Mussawi's death, a high-ranking Iranian Revolutionary Guards member who was killed in Syria. Amidst increasing tensions, Iran and Syria, both part of the "axis of resistance" against Israel, are closely aligned in their stance against Israel's military actions.
Source: www.ntv.de
