Top Iranian official blames Israel, says Monday's missile barrage 'will not remain unanswered' after at least seven IRGC fighters are said killed on air base
Israel’s military has been put on high alert amid heightened tensions along the northern border and with Iran threatening to avenge an airstrike on a Syrian air base believed to have killed at least 14 people, including 7 Iranian military personnel.
Russia, Syria, Iran and the United States have all said Israel carried out the predawn Monday missile barrage on the T-4 Air Base near Palmyra in central Syria. Israeli officials refused to comment on the strike.
On Tuesday, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel.
“The crimes will not remain unanswered,” Ali Akbar Velayati said during a visit to Syria, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also accused Israel of “flagrant” aggression in Syria following the attack.
Israeli officials did not appear to be taking the threat of a retaliatory attack lightly — either by Iran, or its proxy, the Hezbollah terrorist group.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman appeared to allude to the strike, saying that Israel “will not allow Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Whatever the cost.”
Keeping in line with Israel’s stance of ambiguity on attacks outside the country’s borders, the defense minister prefaced his remarks with a wry “I don’t know what happened.”
“Accepting Iranian entrenchment in Syria would be to accept Iranians putting a chokehold on us. We cannot allow that,” Liberman said.
In a highly unusual move, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency acknowledged that “Iranian military advisers” were killed in Monday’s attack on the military airfield.
The Tasnim media outlet, which has been affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, specified that seven IRGC members were killed in the strike, including one high-ranking officer, Col. Mehdi Dehghan, who reportedly served in one of the group’s drone units.
Monday’s Iranian Foreign Ministry’s press release made no mention of the dead.
This appeared to be only the second time that Iran has acknowledged casualties in Syria. The first was in 2015, when an IRGC general was killed in a strike directed against Hezbollah leader Jihad Mughniyeh, which was also attributed to Israel.
In that case, the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group retaliated 10 days later with an ambush, firing anti-tank missiles at two IDF jeeps, killing two soldiers and injuring seven more.
Iran has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria, presented as “volunteers” from Afghanistan and Pakistan and trained locally by Iranian “military advisers.” It denies having a military presence in the war-torn country.
Iran does not recognize the existence of Israel and routinely calls for and predicts its demise. Israel views Tehran under the regime of the ayatollahs as an existential threat that seeks nuclear arms and funds and arms terrorist groups, notably Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group on Israel’s northern border.
With a high body count, conspicuous timing, and highly irregular responses from Russia and Iran, the airstrike against Syria’s T-4 Air Base in the pre-dawn hours of Monday that was attributed to, but not acknowledged by, Israel has sparked widespread discussion and speculation.
What was the target of the attack? Why now? How will Iran respond? Why did Russia, in an unprecedented move, claim Israel carried it out? What will this mean for future Israeli actions in Syria?
Jerusalem has maintained its official policy of ambiguity regarding the Syria airstrike and neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the attack. But US officials were apparently not a part of this effort and told America’s NBC News that Israel was responsible, and had informed Washington ahead of time.
The Russian military also broke its long-standing custom of not commenting on such alleged Israeli strikes and specified that the attack was carried out by two Israeli F-15 fighter jets, which fired eight missiles at the T-4 base, also known as the Tiyas base. Fourteen people were reportedly killed in the strike.
News outlets affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported on Tuesday that at least seven of the group’s members were among those killed in the alleged Israeli strike, including one high ranking officer, Col. Mehdi Dehghan, who reportedly held a senior position in its drone unit.
Though Iran’s foreign ministry did not acknowledge the casualties in Syria, the semi-official Fars news outlet did. This is only the second such admission by Iran, the first being the case of an IRGC general killed in a 2015 strike directed against Hezbollah leader Jihad Mughniyeh, which was also attributed to Israel.
On Tuesday, a senior Iranian official told a Lebanese TV station that the alleged Israeli strike “will not remain without response.”
The specific nature of the target of Monday’s alleged strike was not immediately known, but the air base’s connection to the Iranian drone program makes that a likely candidate.
It was likely of particular importance, judging by the large number of casualties. Israel generally avoids unnecessary deaths, as the more people killed in a strike, the more likely it is that Iran or its proxy Hezbollah will feel obligated to retaliate, as in 2015.
“Israel prefers the ambiguity so as to not force, so to speak, Tehran or Damascus to react,” Zalzberg said.
A senior Iranian official threatened Israel with retribution, warning its airstrike on a Syrian air base that killed seven Iranians “will not go unanswered.”
Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran’s supreme leader, delivered his judgement – in which he called the attack an Israeli “crime” – on arrival in the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday.
Iran is one of President Bashar Assad’s strongest backers and has sent thousands of Iran-backed terrorists to back his army in the field.
Velayati was quoted by the country’s state-run news agency IRNA.
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Syria and its Russian ally accused Israel on Monday of carrying out the deadly dawn bombing raid on the military airbase, as global outrage mounted over an alleged poison gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus.
A military spokeswoman for Israel, which has hit Syrian military positions several times in recent years, declined to comment. The Jewish State has a longstanding policy of refusing to comment on alleged military actions beyond the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
As Breitbart News reported, President Donald Trump condemned the reported chemical weapons attack in Syria, promising an administration response in the next 24-48 hours.
“It was atrocious. It was horrible,” Trump said. “This is about humanity and it can’t be allowed to happen.”
The president made his remarks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday.
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