Iran says it reserves right to respond to IRGC commander's assassination

Tehran, Jan 2: Iran has said it would reserve the right to respond to the recent assassination of a veteran Iranian commander in Syria "at the appropriate place and time".

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani, at a weekly press conference in the capital Tehran, on Monday condemned Israel for attacking a commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was in Damascus to fight terrorism at the request of the Syrian government.

Kanaani's remarks came a week after Seyyed Razi Mousavi, who served as a "military adviser" in Syria, was killed by a missile attack in Damascus on December 25, 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Spokesman said Israeli attacks against Iranian advisers in Syria were "a clear violation of the Arab state's sovereignty and territorial integrity as an independent state and a UN member and an adventurism aimed at challenging peace and security in the region".

Mousavi was a comrade of the late Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

Earlier in December 2023, the IRGC said two of its members were killed by Israeli forces "while conducting an advisory mission in Syria's Islamic resistance front".

Iran says it has an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus.

Israel has repeatedly targetted what it says are Iran-linked positions in Syria.