Iran Threatens Israel After Senior Officer Killed in Syria, US Strikes Proxies

Jerusalem, 26 December, 2023 (TPS) -- Iran is threatening Israel with retaliation after a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in an airstrike on Monday in Syria. The development came amidst US air strikes on the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday.

Themorning in response to a drone attack on the Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq. Three US servicemen were injured, one critically.

The Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Maj. Gen. Razi Mousavi “was killed during an attack by the Zionist regime a few hours ago in Zainabiyah district in the suburbs of Damascus.” Hebrew media reported that three missiles hit a weapons depot south of the Syrian capital in a targeted attack that killed Mousavi.

Considered one of the IRGC’s top Quds Force commanders, Mousavi was responsible for coordinating the “military” alliance between Iran and Syria and was reportedly involved in Tehran’s efforts to supply its terror proxies in the region with weapons, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He was a longtime confidante of Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in 2020.

Tehran threatened Jerusalem with retaliation for Mousavi’s killing, with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeting that “Tel Aviv is waiting for a tough countdown.”

The IRGC said that “the usurping and barbaric Zionist regime will pay for this crime.”

The US strikes were in response to a drone attack on the Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq on Tuesday morning. Three US servicemen were injured, one critically.

US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told reporters that after being briefed on the attack, President Joe Biden ordered strikes against three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups that “focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities.”

Following the strikes, US Central Command’s commander, Gen. Erik Kurilla said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that, “Early assessments indicate that these U.S. airstrikes destroyed the targeted facilities and likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants. There are no indications that any civilian lives were affected. The U.S. military will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of these strikes.”

Kurilla added, “These strikes are intended to hold accountable those elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks. We will always protect our forces.”