Syria to UN: Israeli assassination of Iranian advisor risks engulfing entire region

Syria has condemned Israel’s assassination of a senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was serving as a military advisor in Damascus at the official invitation of the Arab government.

In two identical letters addressed to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Thursday called on the world body to assume responsibility for ending Israel’s aggressive policies that threaten world peace and security.

The Syrian ministry called on the UN to take a strong action against the latest Israeli aggression targeting the vicinity of the Sayyida Zeinab area in the countryside of Damascus on December 25.

“At 16:20 pm last Monday evening, the Israeli occupation forces carried out an act of aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the vicinity of Damascus City, which led to the martyrdom of the military advisor at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the ministry said.

Mousavi was a seasoned military advisor and one of the IRGC commanders entrusted with the Syrian file, in charge of providing “logistical support to the axis of resistance in Syria.”

He was a comrade of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was also assassinated in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.

Hossein Akbari, Iran’s ambassador to Syria, told media persons that three missiles hit his home near Damascus only hours after he had returned from the Iranian embassy.

Akbari stressed that Mousavi held a diplomatic passport and residence and that according to 1961 and 1973 international conventions, his assassination constitutes a blatant crime.

Iran maintains an advisory mission in Syria at the request of Damascus to help the Arab country get rid of foreign-backed terrorists who have been fighting the Syrian government since 2011.

The Israeli regime and the US have been hand-in-glove with Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria, carrying out frequent attacks on forces associated with the Syrian government and its allies.