Iran vows Israel ‘will pay’ for death of military leader

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed retribution after Israel reportedly killed a high-ranking general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria on Monday.

In a statement, Raisi said Israel “will certainly pay for this crime,” The Times of Israel (TOI) reported.

“Without a doubt, this action is another sign of frustration, helplessness, and incapacity of the usurping Zionist regime in the region,” Raisi said in the statement.  

Brig. Gen. Razi Mousavi was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Damascus suburb of Sayida Zeinab, the Iranian Tasnim News Agency reported Monday.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari declined to comment on the alleged airstrike at a Monday press conference, the TOI reported.

The TOI also reported that Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said on X, formerly Twitter, that “Tel Aviv faces a tough countdown,” and that Mousavi “fought bravely for many years… to ensure the security of Iran and the region.”

The strike comes as tensions on Israel’s northern border remain high between Israel and Hezbollah.

Mousavi was reportedly a close associate of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. He was reportedly responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Iran and Syria and believed to be involved in supplying arms to Hezbollah, the TOI reported.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have only risen higher in the last two months as Israel has bombarded Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the group, which is designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.

Fears that a wider war could break out have been a recurrent amid the war in Gaza, as Hezbollah has fired rockets into northern Israel.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also disrupted shipping through the Red Sea in another sign of the risks of a widening war.