On 25th December (Monday), a senior adviser in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in the Syrian capital of Damascus, as per Iranian media. According to Iran’s mouthpiece Tasnim news agency, Brig. General Razi Mousavi was killed in a strike in the Damascus suburb of Sayeda Zeinab.
Following the death of Mousavi, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that Israel “will certainly pay for this crime.” In a statement, Raisi said, “Without a doubt, this action is another sign of frustration, helplessness, and incapacity of the usurping Zionist regime in the region.”
In response to the incident, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian took to X to give a stern warning to Israel stating that “Tel Aviv faces a tough countdown.”
According to Iran’s state-owned Press TV, Hezbollah stated that it regards the killing of Mousavi as a “flagrant and shameless violation, which is off limits.”
As per reports, three munitions hit the compound where Mousavi was located.
In a statement quoted by Iranian media, the IRGC confirmed that Mousavi was killed near Damascus, and vowed revenge. The IRGC said, “The usurping and barbaric Zionist regime will pay for this crime.”
The Tasnim reported that Mousavi was “one of the oldest advisers of IRGC in Syria” and close to former IRGC Quds force head, Qassem Soleimani. He was killed in a 2020 US drone strike in Iraq.
On the Israeli side, the Israel Defense Forces’ senior spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, declined to comment on the reports of Israeli strikes killing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard adviser during a press conference on Monday (25th December) evening.
The Times of Israel reported that while Israel’s military does not, as a rule, comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed terror groups over the last decade.
As per Israeli media, the slain IRGC adviser Mousavi was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Iran and Syria. Israel claims that Mousavi was heavily involved in Tehran’s efforts to supply weapons to Iran-backed terror outfits in the area, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
In Syria, Pro-government media outlets did not immediately report the strike. This was different from previous cases as in other incidents in the past, Damascus had publicly blamed Israel for the attacks.
As per the al-Jadeed Lebanon outlet, Mousavi had lived in Syria for 30 years. He had his own office inside the Syrian Defense Ministry.
Earlier this month, Iran said that two IRGC officers were killed in an attack in the area of the Syrian capital for which it pinned the blame on Israel. The IRGC added that Mohammad Ali Atai Shoorcheh and Panah Taghizadeh were “martyred” while on an advisory mission to Syria, blaming the “Zionists” for their death.
It is important to note that Israeli PM Netanyahu recently laid out three “prerequisites for peace” in the region in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal. These are to “destroy Hamas, demilitarise Gaza, and deradicalise the whole of Palestinian society.”
The article further read, “The US, UK, France, Germany, and many other countries support Israel’s intention to demolish the terror group. To achieve that goal, its military capabilities must be dismantled and its political rule over Gaza must end. Second, Israel must also ensure that Gaza is never again used as a base to attack Israel. Among other things, this will require establishing a temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt that meets Israel’s security needs and prevents smuggling of weapons into the territory.”
