Iran has vowed retaliation for the killing of IRGC Lieutenant General Razi al-Moussavi during an Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, yesterday.
According to state media, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said that Israel will “definitely pay the price for its criminal act for killing a senior military advisor of the IRGC in Syria,” with Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani adding that Iran has the right to respond “in due place and time.”
Moussavi was a key figure in the IRGC’s Quds Force, who was previously sanctioned by the United States for his role in providing financial and material support to Hezbollah in Syria. He was also one of the closest commanders to Qassam Soleimani before his death in 2020 by an American drone strike.
Likewise, the Shia militia al-Nujaba also pledged to avenge the death of Moussavi. The group has been involved in attacks against United States military forces in Iraq as part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization of Iran-backed Shia militias, and was the target of retaliatory American airstrikes earlier this month.
Iranian proxy forces, such as militias in Iraq, have historically attacked American forces in response to operations by Israel in Syria, so we will likely see increased rocket attacks by the group.
