Funeral for assassinated Iranian commander held in Tehran

TEHRAN | Xinhua | The funeral for senior Iranian commander Seyyed Razi Mousavi, who was recently assassinated in an Israeli attack in Syria, was held in Iran’s capital Tehran on Thursday.

A number of people including Iranian officials took part in the ceremony to bid farewell to the veteran member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The participants held pictures of Mousavi and late Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike near the Baghdad airport in Iraq in January 2020, and chanted anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans.

Speaking at the ceremony, IRGC’s Chief Commander Hossein Salami vowed that Iran will definitely take revenge on Israel for killing the commander, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.

In a statement on Monday, the IRGC confirmed the death of Mousavi, who served as a “military adviser” in the Syrian capital of Damascus, vowing that Israel “will pay the price for this crime.”

Iranian Ambassador to Damascus Hossein Akbari told the press on Monday that Mousavi was hit by three missiles while he was alone at his home at 4:10 p.m. local time (1310 GMT) after returning from work.

Earlier this month, 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, where its advisers work at the invitation of Damascus. Israel has repeatedly launched airstrikes against what it calls as Iran-linked targets inside Syria. ■