Iran mourns killing of commander in Israeli raid in Syria

TEHERAN — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday extended condolences to the family of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, commander who was killed in an Israeli missile attack in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Raisi said the "malicious move by Israel was another indication of its desperation, weakness and helplessness" in the region, vowing that "Israel will definitely pay the price for its crime", according to a statement published on the website of his office.

Iran's IRGC announced on Monday that one of its veteran commanders serving as a "military adviser" was killed in an Israeli missile attack in Damascus.

Identified as Seyyed Razi Mousavi, the commander was "responsible for backing up the resistance front in Syria", and was one of the comrades of the late Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport in January 2020, the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News quoted an IRGC statement as saying.

The statement stressed that Israel "will pay the price for this crime".

It noted that Mousavi was a "companion" of Soleimani.

Hossein Akbari, Iran's ambassador to Syria, condemned the killing, saying that Mousavi was in Syria as a "formal military adviser".

Earlier this month, the IRGC said in a statement that two of its servicemen had been killed by Israeli forces "while conducting an advisory mission in Syria's Islamic resistance front".

Iran says it has an advisory role in Syria and is present in the country at the request of Damascus. Israel has for years targeted what it calls Iran-linked positions in Syria.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has intensified attacks in Syria, particularly against Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, Agence France-Presse reported.

Clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border between Hezbollah and Israel have continued to intensify, with daily exchanges of missiles, airstrikes and shelling across the frontier, The Associated Press reported.

The Iraqi government on Monday condemned an attack by a bomb-laden drone on an air base housing the US-led coalition forces near Erbil Airport in Iraq's northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Yahya Rasoul, the military spokesman of the Iraqi prime minister, said in a statement that the attack occurred near the civil Erbil Airport, injuring several people and affecting the operations of the airport.

An armed group named "Islamic Resistance in Iraq "claimed the attack on Monday.

The attack by the Iraqi armed group is part of a series of retaliatory measures against the US forces amid the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the group's statement said.

Xinhua - Agencies