Razi Moussavi, senior general of the Revolutionary Guard of Irandied on Monday in an airstrike Israel near Damascus, the capital of Syriaprovoking calls for revenge from political leaders in Tehran and militias allied to the Islamic Republic.
The general “was killed during an attack by the Zionist regime in the district of Sayida Zeinab in the suburbs of Damascus”reported the official IRNA news agency.
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This agency added that Moussavi was “one of the most experienced advisors” deployed in Syria by the Revolutionary Guard.
Iranians pass by a poster of the murdered Razi Moussavi in Tehran, on December 26, 2023. (EFE/EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH).
The murder of Razi Moussavi It comes as fighting intensifies along the border of the Lebanon with Israel among the militia Hezbollah and Israeli forces. This increases the fear that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza become a regional conflict involving groups backed by Iran.
Iranian-backed militias in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have launched attacks against Israel and its allies in support of Hamas.
Additionally, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, operating under the name Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have also launched more than 100 attacks against bases housing US soldiers in Iraq and Syria. Those militias claim their actions are in retaliation for US support for Israel.
Since the beginning of 2023, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
has counted 70 Israeli attacks against 138 targets in Syria, such as ammunition depots, headquarters, centers and vehicles, which caused the death of 116 soldiers.
How was the attack?
Israel attacked the neighborhood of Sayida Zeinablocated near a Shiite Muslim shrine, according to the IRNA agency and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsbased in Great Britain.
The Observatory said the Israeli army attacked Moussavi after he entered a farm in the area, which is supposedly one of several offices of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
As AP notes, Hezbollah, Iran and Russia has played a key military role in keeping the president’s government in power Bashar al Assad in Syria during the civil war that broke out in 2011.
The Observatory indicated that Moussavi is “the most prominent Iranian figure assassinated in Syria for years.”
Neither the Israeli army nor the state media Syria have issued a statement about the attack. While officials of Israel They refused to comment on the incident.
“I will not comment on foreign reports, neither these nor others in the Middle East,” the U.S. spokesman said. Israel Defense Forces (IDF)rear admiral Daniel Hagari. “The Israeli military is obviously tasked with protecting Israel’s security interests,” she added.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/5W2WPZBBRJB3PDWAXFZBRQZMPQ.jpg "Who was Razi Moussavi, the senior general of Iran's Revolutionary Guard who was assassinated by Israel 1")
Razi Moussavi with the assassinated commander Qasem Soleimani. (AFP).
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Who was Razi Moussavi?
According to the Reuters agency, Iran’s state television interrupted its usual news broadcast to announce that Moussavi He had been killed near Damascus. He described it as one of the most senior advisers to the Revolutionary Guard in Syria.
The IRNA agency indicated that Moussavi He was a close companion of the general Qasem Soleimanithe head of Iran’s elite Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.
The ambassador of Iran In Syria, Hossein Akbari told Iranian state television that Moussavi He was stationed at the embassy as a diplomat and was killed by Israeli missiles after returning home from work.
Called for revenge
In a first reaction, the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisisaid Moussavi was “martyred while serving as an advisor to the resistance front, defending sacred shrines in Syria and safeguarding Islamic ideals.” He then threatened: “The Israeli regime will certainly pay the price for this crime.”
“This action is undoubtedly another example of the frustration, impotence and inability of the usurping Zionist regime in the region,” the president added in a statement.
For his part, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahiansaid Moussavi He was “an Iranian advisor for the fight against terrorism in Syria,” and stated that “Israel must wait for the countdown of the harsh” Iranian response.
“This honorable martyr fought bravely against terrorists for many years alongside the martyr Qasem Soleimani to guarantee the security of Iran and the region,” he said. Amirabdollahian.
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On January 3, 2020, the United States killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad airport. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP).
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Israel would “suffer” for killing Moussavi. “The usurping and savage Zionist regime will pay for this crime,” he continued.
For its part, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned the assassination of Moussavi and described it as a “cowardly act”. He added that the general played a vital role in supporting the resistance in the region, as well as the Palestinian people and their cause.
It’s a statement, Hezbollah rated Moussavi as “one of the best brothers who worked to support the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon for decades of his honorable life.”
The EFE agency, based on information from Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsindicated that pro-Iran Shiite militias in Syria were placed on maximum military and security alert.
“There was a new deployment of pro-Iranian militiamen and the deployment of several checkpoints,” the observatory added.
