Tel Aviv’s assertion that it attacked Iranian forces stationed near Damascus is untrue, the former head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards has said, warning that the airstrikes would be answered by Syria’s “defenders.”
Major General Mohsen Rezaei dismissed allegations that the cross-border strikes had targeted Iranian military personnel who were planning to launch drone attacks aimed at targets inside Israel.
“This is a lie and not true. Israel and the United States do not have the power to attack Iran’s various centers, and our (military) advisory centers have not been harmed,” Rezaei told the semi-official ILNA news agency.
Earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes targeted an alleged Iranian weapons depot in Iraq – a move which was also strongly condemned by Rezaei.
“The actions carried out jointly by Israel and the United States in Syria and Iraq are in breach of international law and will soon be answered by Syria and Iraq’s defenders,” he said.
Israel has carried out countless airstrikes inside Syria, claiming that the attacks target Iranian and Hezbollah forces.
Damascus has accused Israel of using the alleged threat posed by Tehran to hit Syrian military targets. Although it often declines to comment on its involvement in such strikes, Tel Aviv acknowledged that it was behind the most recent attack, boasting that it was a message to Iran that it should “not feel safe anywhere.”
