Three additional casualties in Israeli strike targeting Iranian official in Syria

The Israeli airstrike on Monday targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) advisor Razi Mousavi claimed the lives of three fighters loyal to Tehran, according to a new toll from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday.

The IRGC announced on Monday the death of Mousavi, "one of the most experienced advisers" in Syria and the "logistics chief for the axis of resistance" there, in an Israeli missile strike that targeted him in the Sayyida Zaynab area near the capital.

The Syrian Observatory, based in Britain and having a wide network of sources in Syria, reported that in addition to Mousavi, "the deaths of two non-Syrian nationals and another of Syrian nationality were confirmed as a result of the Israeli strike."

It pointed out that the strike targeted Mousavi shortly after he entered a farm.

Residents in the Sayyida Zaynab area reported heightened security measures by Iran-affiliated fighters in some neighborhoods and farms in the region on Tuesday.

Mousavi is a prominent figure in the Quds Force, the unit responsible for external operations in the IRGC, killed outside Iran following the death of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that Israel would "definitely pay the price for this crime," while an Israeli army spokesperson declined to comment.

AFP