(Tehran) The Revolutionary Guards, ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, announced Tuesday the death of two senior officers in an Israeli attack the day before in Syria, threatening to retaliate to “this crime”.
Posted at 3:02 p.m.
Updated at 3:28 p.m.
“Guards Colonels Ehsan Karbalaipur and Morteza Saidnejad were martyred in a crime committed by the Zionist regime in a rocket attack on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, yesterday morning [lundi] “Reports a press release published on Sepah News, the Guardians’ website.
“The Zionist Regime [Israël] will pay for this crime,” the Guardians promise.
The day before, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which has an extensive network of sources across Syria, announced the death of two pro-Iranian fighters in Israeli strikes near the Syrian capital. .
According to the OSDH, the strikes targeted “an arms and ammunition depot operated by Iran-backed militias near Damascus International Airport”.
Iran, along with Russia, provided financial and military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict that erupted in Syria in 2011.
Tehran says it deployed forces to Syria at the invitation of Damascus and only for advisory missions.
Israel has carried out at least seven air raids in Syria since the beginning of the year, reports the OSDH, according to which strikes near Damascus in February killed two Syrian soldiers and four fighters from militias supported by Iran.
Since the start of the war in Syria 11 years ago, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in its neighbor, targeting army positions as well as Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and other Tehran-backed militias.
The Jewish state rarely comments on its strikes, but says it will not allow its enemy Iran to expand its influence in Syria.
Triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, the war in Syria has become more complex over the years with the involvement of regional and international powers and the rise of jihadists. The conflict has killed around 500,000 people, devastated the country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of people.