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.
Israel expanding conflict to cover up its crimes in Gaza
The Syrian ministry warned that Israel was desperately attempting to expand the conflict in order to cover up its crimes against civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“This brutal Israeli aggression against the sovereignty of the Syrian territories is part of the occupying authorities’ attempt to expand and escalate their aggression in the region and to cover up war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and brutal massacres committed daily against the defenseless Palestinian people and to escape their failure in the face of the will and determination of the Palestinian people,” it said.
The ministry said Israel’s airstrikes on Syria violated its sovereignty and international law and pledged to continue fighting Israeli-backed terrorism.
“The Syrian Arab Republic is committed to its inalienable right to defend its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, as affirmed in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and stresses that Israel’s hysterical acts of aggression will not deter it from continuing to combat terrorism that is backed by Israel and its sponsors, nor will they limit its intention to restore its occupied territories.”
The Israeli regime frequently violates Syrian sovereignty by targeting military positions inside the country.
Israel mostly keeps quiet about its attacks on the Syrian territories, which many view as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s increasing success in confronting terrorism.
The Tel Aviv regime has been a main supporter of terrorist groups that have battled the government of President Bashar al-Assad since foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria in early 2011.
Syria has repeatedly complained to the UN over Israeli assaults, urging the Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s crimes. The calls have, however, fallen on deaf ears.
