The chief commander of the Iranian Army has condemned Israel’s assassination of a senior military advisor of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria as yet another sign of the occupying regime’s “frustration” against the resistance.
In a message issued late on Monday, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi extended his congratulations and condolences to the family of Seyyed Razi Mousavi, as well as resistance fighters and the IRGC, on the Iranian commander’s martyrdom in an Israeli airstrike in a Damascus neighborhood.
“Following the defeats of the usurping regime in the face of the people in Gaza and the resistance front, the impotence and frustration of the child-killing Zionist regime were exposed once again by another crime and the martyrdom of a sincere fighter,” he wrote.
The Army chief also described Mousavi as one of the senior IRGC military advisers in Syria and a comrade of top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020. He was highly revered due to his key role in fighting the US-created and Israeli-supported Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
Iran will give ‘smart’ response to Israel: Defense minister
Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik called for the global condemnation and punishment of the Zionists’ crime, adding that they will get a “decisive and smart response.”
“The perpetrators of this crime must await the penalty of their recent operation. Waiting for that [penalty] will torment the regime and its elements to death,” he said.
Israel will pay ‘heavy price’ for heinous terrorist act: MP
Abolfazl Amouei, spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that the committee will hold an extraordinary meeting next week on the IRGC commander’s martyrdom.
“Definitely, this action of the Zionist regime will not go unanswered. As military and government officials said, Israel will pay a heavy price for its heinous and barbaric act,” he noted.
Israel taking ‘crazy measures’ to make up for defeats: Envoy
Speaking to the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), Iranian Ambassador to Damascus Hossein Akbari denounced Mousavi’s murder as “a cowardly terrorist act by the Zionist regime” in violation of international conventions.
The IRGC advisor was at the Iranian embassy at 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) and he was martyred at his house after returning from work at 4:10 p.m. (1310 GMT) by three missiles.
The “heartless and passive” Israeli crime is actually “a reaction to the situation,” he added.
“Perhaps, it can be said that the Zionist regime is taking crazy measures today to make up for some of its failures regarding both domestic problems and conditions in Gaza, where it has practically achieved none of its objectives after 80 days [of war].”
The envoy also emphasized that the victim country reserves the right to respond in kind and that the Zionist regime will naturally receive a response to its crime in due time and circumstances.
Mousavi was martyred while serving Iran’s military advisory mission in Syria. Iranians are Syria in purely an advise-and-assist capacity.
The mission was the first to rush to Syria’s assistance in 2014, when the Arab country found itself in the grip of the Daesh terror outfit.
Led by General Soleimani, the mission played an instrumental role in Damascus’ successful counterterrorism push that ultimately defeated Daesh in late 2017.
Source: Press TV
