Salami: Israel will ‘Pay’ for Killing of IRGC Advisor in Syria
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that Israel will “pay” for the recent killing of an IRGC officer in Syria.
Saeed Abyar was killed in an Israeli strike on Syria’s northern city of Aleppo early Monday, according to Iranian media.
“Zionist child-killing criminals should know that they will pay for the pure bloodshed in this crime – they should await a response,” the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, Hossein Salami, said.
Salami said that Abyar was in Syria on an “advisory mission.” Iran has been a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, providing economic, political, and military support during Syria’s 13-year civil war. While IRGC-affiliated militias have a significant presence in Syria, Tehran maintains that it has only sent military advisors to the conflict.
On Monday, the Britian-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that an Israeli strike in Aleppo killed 16 pro-Iran fighters, including Syrian and foreign fighters.
Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iran-linked targets and Syrian military forces in the country.
These strikes intensified after Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7. However, according to the Observatory, the strikes decreased following a deadly April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, attributed to Israel, which escalated regional tensions and prompted Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel.
