Iran's IRGC Suffers Single Deadliest Day In Syria As Israel Strikes Damascus Airport
In the late night hours of Thursday, Israel launched a series of new airstrikes on the Syrian capital, especially with heavy strikes targeting Damascus International Airport, which had already been hit several times in the last few months.
"Around 11:05 p.m. Thursday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the southern region," a source was cited in Syrian state media as saying. By Friday it emerged there had been a delegation of high-ranking Iranian officers set to arrive at the airport. Syria said it intercepted only some of the inbound projectiles.
Gulf news outlet Al-Arabiya is now reporting that the Thursday overnight attack "killed 11 members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)" according to its sources.
"The targeted IRGC members, responsible for overseeing Iran-backed forces in eastern Syria, were present at the airport to welcome a senior delegation, the sources said," the report added.
And Fox News, citing Israeli media, said that among the dead is Nur Rashid, who is eastern Syria's commander of the Revolutionary Guards. Syria has increasingly become ground zero for Israeli waging war against Iranian military and intelligence commanders, and it looks like this fast escalating.
Crucially, less than a week ago Israel took out a general described as Iran's top commander in Syria. Gen. Razi Mousavi was also a close associate of slain IRGC Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani. On Friday, Gen. Mousavi was laid to rest in the Iranian capital, as the Associated Press describes:
Iran held a funeral Thursday for a high-ranking general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria.
Hundreds of mourners accompanied the flag-draped casket of Gen. Razi Mousavi from a central square of Tehran to a shrine in the north of the city where he was buried.
The airport attack constitutes one of the single deadliest days for the IRGC in Syria over the past decade of war there...
According to several Arab newspapers, 11 members of #Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed during the most recent suspected Israeli strike in Damascus, making it one of the deadliest such events for the revolutionary guards in Syria
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) December 29, 2023
Iran has issued rare confirmation that Mousavi was killed when the Israeli military fired a missile on Sayyida Zeinab suburb. The IRGC described "a criminal missile attack by the fake and child-killing Zionist regime," and warned that Tel Aviv will "undoubtedly pay the price for this crime."
Israel and its close ally the United States have blamed Tehran for funding and fueling not only Hamas and Hezbollah terror, but also the increased Houthi attacks out of Yemen which have effectively closed the Red Sea to commercial shipping. Also on Thursday night, a US warship again intercepted drones and a ballistic missile launched from Yemeni territory.
Second time in history a U.S. warship has shot down a ballistic missile in combat.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) December 29, 2023
(The first time was two days ago.) https://t.co/DLGg5Em17T
At this rate, Iran is headed toward a major clash with the US and Israel. Fox News Pentagon correspondent Lucas Tomlinson is reporting Friday that the US Navy says it's "ready to strike Iranian-backed forces in Yemen if ordered." So far US warships have only intercepted projectiles either headed into the Red Sea or toward Israel, but have yet to mount offensive strikes against Houthi launch positions. Biden's critics have lashed out, saying inaction is only emboldening Iran and its proxies.
