Top Commander Warns of Israel’s Warmongering Plots

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Hassan Firouzabadi warned that Israel is after implementing warmongering policies in the Middle East, and said Tel Aviv’s recent ballistic missile tests amid escalating tensions and US war rhetoric against Syria corroborates the same fact.
“This provocative incident is another sign of the fact that the Quds occupying regime is the region’s warmonger,” General Firouzabadi said.

He said when Israel saw the US and other western countries have withdrawn from attacking Syria they fired two missiles in the Mediterranean Sea, adding, “If the Russians had not traced the missiles and their origin, a Zionist liar would have alleged that they belonged to Syria in a bid to pave the way for breaking out a war in the region.

“The occupiers of Quds do not want the Israelis to be relieved from terror because they want to keep them in their shelters to allow the Zionist lobby of the US Congress to pursue new warmongering in this sensitive and strategic region,” General Firouzabadi said.

Tensions over Syria ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday after Russia’s Defense Ministry said it detected traces of ballistic “objects” launched from an area in the central Mediterranean moving in an Easterly direction.

After some initial confusion over who was responsible, the Israeli military claimed responsibility, saying it was carrying out a joint missile test with the United States, reports from the BBC and Reuters said.

Israel’s Defense Ministry told the Associated Press that a single missile was fired but gave no other details. Russia’s state-run Interfax news agency said the “targets fell into the sea”, USA Today reported.

Earlier, the Russian embassy in Syria said there was no sign of a missile attack or explosions in Damascus.

Adding to the confusion, CBS News tweeted early Tuesday morning that a US official confirmed that American ships or planes were not behind the missile launches.

Separately, Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander William Speaks told the Associated Press, “I have nothing to confirm those reports whatsoever.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry declined comment.

Moscow said the launch was detected at 10:16 am local time (2:16 am ET).

The development comes as Congress prepares to hold a vote on whether the US should take military action in Syria for the alleged use of chemical weapons by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.