Israel killed a high-ranking Iranian official in Syria, the country’s state media said of an airstrike that targeted Seyed Razi Mousavi, an adviser to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The senior official was killed near the Syrian capital of Damascus after returning home from work.
Mousavi "was said to have helped oversee the shipment of missiles and other arms to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed military force in Lebanon and Syria that is a frequent adversary of Israel’s," The New York Times reported.
A Senior Leader with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran, Brigadier General Reza Mousavi was Killed as a result of an Israeli Airstrike near the Syrian Capital of Damascus earlier today; General Mousavi was the Head of Unit 2250 with the IRGC’s Quds Force which… pic.twitter.com/ImlX1vKERw
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 25, 2023
The explosion in Damascus earlier today killed Razi Mousavi, reportedly a senior IRGC official, seen here with Qassem Solimani.
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) December 25, 2023
It’s no longer the “campaign between the wars.” But Israeli gray zone warfare promises to figure prominently in the battle ahead. https://t.co/cG12Sru14a
IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari would not confirm the reports, but said “the Israeli military obviously has a job to protect the security interests of Israel.”
Iran responded, threatening retaliation against Israel.
"This act is a sign of the Zionist regime's frustration and weakness in the region for which it will certainly pay the price," Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said, according to state media.
IRGC, meanwhile, vowed that “the usurper and savage Zionist regime will pay for this crime.”
And a spokesman for Iran's defense ministry said their response "will be decisively and effectively taken at the right time, place, and method so that Israel will be unable to achieve its goals.”