Who killed Iran’s IRGC operative Sayyed Reza Mousavi in Syria, and why?

Analysis Who killed Iran’s IRGC operative Sayyed Reza Mousavi in Syria, and why?
Sayyed Reza Mousavi died in an Israeli missile strike in Sayyida Zeinab, a town in southern Damascus. (Tasnim News/AFP file)
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Updated 27 December 2023
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Who killed Iran’s IRGC operative Sayyed Reza Mousavi in Syria, and why?

Who killed Iran’s IRGC operative Sayyed Reza Mousavi in Syria, and why?
  • Slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander oversaw Iran’s extensive network of militias in Syria and the wider Levant
  • Israel has refused to confirm or deny its role, as is common in the case of strikes against Iran-related targets attributed to it

IRBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan/JEDDAH: A senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary died in Syria on Monday in possibly the most consequential targeted killing the region has seen since the “shadow commander” Qassem Soleimani was eliminated by an American drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.

Iran’s state-run media described Sayyed Reza Mousavi as “one of the oldest advisers of the IRGC in Syria” and close with Soleimani, who headed the IRGC’s Quds Force, which plots Tehran’s extraterritorial operations throughout the Middle East, arming and funding numerous proxy militias that do Iran’s bidding against its enemies.

“I would call Mousavi the second Qassem Soleimani. He knew everybody, had good contacts with people on the ground, militias and heads of groups,” Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami, founder and president of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah) in Riyadh, told Arab News.

He said Mousavi had “more knowledge of the realities on the ground” in Syria than anyone else, including his boss and current Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, who Al-Sulami said is more knowledgeable about other countries and regions such as Afghanistan and Central Asia than about Syria and the Middle East.




Sayyed Reza Mousavi, left, with Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Baghdad in January 2020 by the US. (Tasnim News/AFP file)

“When it came to Middle East, it was Qassem Soleimani and Reza Mousavi, the second Qassem Soleimani,” he said. “Therefore, it is a very big loss for Iran and a big success for those who are trying to minimize the presence of militias in Syria.”

Iran’s ambassador to Syria said that Mousavi had been working in the Iranian embassy in an official capacity as a diplomat and died in an Israeli missile strike in Sayyida Zeinab, a town in southern Damascus.

IRGC media in Iran said Mousavi had the rank of brigadier general. He had reportedly lived in Syria for 30 years and had an office at the Syrian Ministry of Defense.

Israel has refused to either confirm or deny its role in the killing, as is common in the case of strikes against Iran-related targets in Syria attributed to it.

Al-Sulami is not surprised that a country or spy agency was able to get its hands on the intelligence it needed for the high-profile elimination.

“I think intelligence agencies in countries like the UK, the US and, more importantly, Israel know very well the significance of such people in Syria, even though these individuals try to be very quiet and keep a low profile,” he said.

“Most of the world’s intelligence services have their own sources on the ground. There is no secrecy in Syria, and Mousavi has been there for at least 30 years. He had been active there in coordination with the IRGC and militias like Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun, from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, and groups coming from other countries.”




Israel has launched thousands of intermittent airstrikes against targets throughout Syria since 2013. (AFP/File)

Mousavi would undoubtedly have been a tempting target for Israel since he reportedly began organizing the transfer of arms and funds to Iran’s militia proxies in Syria along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has amassed a large missile arsenal in the years since Israel fought its last large-scale war with it in 2006.

“It has been evident for some time that Israel has seriously compromised the IRGC’s international spy-terrorist apparatus — and, indeed, has very good access within Iran itself,” independent Middle East analyst Kyle Orton told Arab News.

“The error in the Israeli policy has been in racking up these tactical victories.”

While Israel focused on thwarting IRGC plots regionally and worldwide, the IRGC continued “its strategic advance, knitting together its regional empire, stretching contiguously across the northern Middle East.”

Israel has launched thousands of intermittent airstrikes against targets throughout Syria since 2013 as part of its “war between the wars” campaign with Iran, itself part of a larger shadow war between those two enemies.

WHO WAS SAYYED REZA MOUSAVI?

• Was a commander, senior adviser of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

• Coordinated military relations between Syria and Iran.

• Lived in Syria for 30 years, kept office in Syrian Defense Ministry.

• Responsible for transferring funds from Iran to Syria and for Hezbollah salaries.

• Killed on Dec. 25 in neighborhood frequented by pro-Iranian militias in Damascus.

That air campaign aimed to prevent Iran and its militias from transferring sophisticated air defenses and surface-to-surface missiles to Hezbollah via Syria, an effort in which Mousavi is widely reported to have played a key role.

“The elimination of Reza Mousavi, if carried out by Israel, would be an important departure for a country that has generally targeted the IRGC’s physical infrastructure in Syria and avoided targeting personnel,” Orton said.

He said the “flaw” in the previous Israeli strategy was the speed at which IRGC bases could be rebuilt after these strikes, leading to the need for repeated strikes against the very same targets.




Israel has conducted airstrikes in Syria as part of its “war between the wars” campaign with Iran. (AFP/File)

Meanwhile, the IRGC continued the “crucial work” of “embedding Iran’s influence” in the region through the tending and expansion of human networks with a combination of “military training and ideological indoctrination.”

Similar to the aftermath of Soleimani’s death, Al-Sulami of Rasanah believes the loss of Mousavi will result in greater fragmentation of the Iran-backed groups in Syria in the near future. However, he is doubtful there will be a major escalation between Iran and Israel anytime soon.

“I think both Iran and Israel are following the same strategy, which is indirect confrontations,” he said.

“Israel is attacking Iran in Syria and other places but they avoid conducting direct military operations inside Iran to avoid any escalations. For Iran, it’s the same. They try to attack Israelis in Cyprus, Greece, and other countries. That will continue for maybe years to come.”




Mousavi died in an Israeli missile strike in Sayyida Zeinab, a town in southern Damascus. (AFP/File)

Orton is doubtful that Mousavi’s elimination will singlehandedly “have much impact” on Iran’s control in Syria.

“The Iranians have been applying the Islamic Revolution’s model to Syria at a very high-intensity for more than a decade and, as Mousavi’s personal history attests, the program has been ongoing for much longer than that,” he said.

“If Mousavi’s killing is not a one-off, however, and Israel has switched to a policy of targeting senior IRGC personnel in Syria, over time this can have a cumulative impact in destabilizing the Iranian project in that country.”

Such a policy change could result in the IRGC deciding to fire missiles from Yemen and possibly Lebanon.

The Iran-backed Houthis have already escalated attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and fired at US warships there. The US has also directly accused Iran of responsibility for an attack on Saturday on a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean, which saw a one-way attack drone hit the vessel 200 nautical miles from the Indian coast, far from the Red Sea.




That air campaign aims to prevent the transfer of sophisticated air defenses and surface-to-surface missiles to Hezbollah via Syria. (AFP/File)

Orton, too, is skeptical of a major escalation that goes beyond these tit-for-tat incidents, noting that Israeli intelligence has “badly infiltrated” the IRGC networks, making it unlikely the powerful paramilitary could “manage a ‘spectacular’ response.”

He recalled how Iran had “very publicly committed itself” to avenging the 2020 killing of Soleimani in such a fashion. Iran initially responded to his death by firing ballistic missiles at an Iraqi airbase hosting American troops, leaving several American soldiers with traumatic brain injuries.

Incidentally, US forces in Iraqi Kurdistan came under attack on Monday by an explosive-laden militia drone shortly after Mousavi’s killing. The attack injured three soldiers, leaving one reportedly in critical condition.

The US launched retaliatory airstrikes against militias in Iraq in a move that inevitably increased the risk of escalation in that volatile country — and possibly beyond.


Lebanon aid convoy driver injured after Israeli strike

Updated 3 sec ago
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Lebanon aid convoy driver injured after Israeli strike

Lebanon aid convoy driver injured after Israeli strike
  • Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh told AFP that the convoy was carrying “humanitarian aid from the Lebanese government
Beirut: An Israeli strike hit an east Lebanon town as an aid convoy drove through it Tuesday, injuring one of its drivers, a governor and the state news agency said.
The governor of Baalbek, Bachir Khodr, on X reported “an Israeli strike very close to an aid convoy as it drove through the town of Ain” on its way to Ras Baalbek.
He posted a picture from the back window of the car he was in, showing a huge column of smoke billowing up into the sky dozens of meters (yards) behind it.
“The driver of the truck driving directly behind us was injured,” he added.
Israeli strikes hit Ain during “the passage of a convoy consisting of three trucks” heading toward the town of Ras Baalbek, said the National News Agency (NNA).
“One of the aid trucks heading to Ras Baalbek was damaged as a result of the blowback of the strike in Ain, which led to the injury of the truck driver.”
Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh told AFP that the convoy was carrying “humanitarian aid from the Lebanese government.”
It “was traveling to the area accompanied by the Lebanese Red Cross with agreement from the United Nations,” he said.
The convoy was made up of five trucks, and carried aid from several countries including the United Arab Emirates and Turkiye.
Two had previously unloaded goods in Baalbek, NNA said.
Almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel on September 23 increased its strikes against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in south and east Lebanon, as well as the capital’s southern suburbs.
The escalation has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

‘Extremely valuable’ secret tomb uncovered in Jordan’s Petra

‘Extremely valuable’ secret tomb uncovered in Jordan’s Petra
Updated 12 min 57 sec ago
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‘Extremely valuable’ secret tomb uncovered in Jordan’s Petra

‘Extremely valuable’ secret tomb uncovered in Jordan’s Petra
  • 12 skeletons, hundreds of artifacts recovered as lead archaeologist hails ‘rare’ find
  • Discovery may offer new clues about ancient Arab society

LONDON: Archaeologists have uncovered human remains and hundreds of artifacts in a hidden tomb in Petra, Jordan, The Times reported.

The discovery of the 2,000-year-old underground site could help researchers solve long-running questions over the origins of the ancient city and those who built it.

Located underneath Petra’s Treasury, the tomb contained 12 well-preserved skeletons and hundreds of bronze, iron and ceramic artifacts.

The joint US-Jordanian archaeological team that made the discovery worked underneath the famous edifice, which has been featured in films including “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

Based on the central location of the tomb within the UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is believed to have been commissioned by inhabitants of prominent social standing.

Hundreds more items are expected to be recovered as excavation continues, according to lead archaeologist Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research.

Petra’s Treasury was named as such because of an early theory that it held the treasure of a pharaoh, but most researchers today believe that it was a tomb built by Nabataean King Aretas IV, who ruled from about 9 B.C. to 40 A.D.

This has been supported by the latest discovery, as archaeologists believe the uncovered tomb predates the Treasury.

Creasman said his team dated the hidden tomb to the first century B.C. using luminescence dating, which tracks the last exposure of mineral grains to sunlight. The archaeologists first discovered the tomb using ground-penetrating radar.

The recovery of its contents is a rare event. Many other tombs have been discovered across Petra over the years but most were empty, having been used multiple times throughout the centuries.

“It is rare to find a tomb with human remains in Petra,” Creasman said. “So, when you do find one, that becomes extremely valuable.”

The first historical record of the Nabataean civilization was in 312 B.C. They had repelled an invasion launched by Antigonus, the former general and successor of Alexander the Great who inherited large parts of the Macedonian Empire.

“They just appear in the historical record and then it goes over a hundred years before we read about them in text again, by which time they have this fully fledged society and Petra is being built in the sense that we know it today,” Creasman said.

Little is known of early Nabataean society, though ancient recordings suggest that the civilization was remarkably egalitarian, as there is little difference between noble and common Nabataean tombs.

The discovery of the Petra tomb may offer new clues about the ancient Arab society, including diet and nutrition, Creasman said.

“This is going to help us learn more about a shared, regional past,” he added. “The Nabateans were a multicultural trading society who only worked because they united as a people. I hope they might be able to teach us something today.”


Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria

Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria
Updated 5 min 25 sec ago
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Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria

Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria
  • Israel is fighting a war on two fronts, one on its northern border with Lebanon, the other with Hamas in Gaza, while also facing attacks from Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it intercepted two drones approaching from Syria on Monday, a day after a drone attack by Lebanon’s Hezbollah on a base killed four soldiers.
“A short while ago, two UAVs that approached Israeli territory from Syria were successfully intercepted by the IAF (air force). The UAVs were intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
Israel is fighting a war on two fronts, one on its northern border with Lebanon, the other with Hamas in Gaza, while also facing attacks from Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Hezbollah has historically relied on its ally Syria to transport arms and other equipment from its main backer Iran.
Israeli authorities rarely comment publicly about individual strikes or operations involving Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow Iran to expand its sway over the region.
Last week, the Israeli army said its forces killed a Hezbollah figure inside Syria, Adham Jahout, who was described as an intermediary who “relayed information from Syrian regime sources to the Hezbollah.”
Iran and Hezbollah have been among the Syrian government’s most important allies in the country’s more than decade-old civil war.
On October 30, an Israeli air strike hit a road linking Syria and Lebanon as Israel tried to cut off supply routes of Hezbollah, according to a Syrian war monitor.
That strike came less than a week after Israeli jets struck the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing of Masnaa in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, cutting off the road to traffic.
A deadly strike blamed on Israel on April 1 against Iran’s diplomatic mission in Damascus levelled the embassy’s consular annex, killing seven Revolutionary Guard members, including two generals.
Nearly two weeks later, Iran launched a wave of missiles and drones at Israel, Tehran’s first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory since the establishment of its Islamic republic in 1979.


Hezbollah targets Israeli naval base after deadly drone strike

Hezbollah targets Israeli naval base after deadly drone strike
Updated 14 October 2024
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Hezbollah targets Israeli naval base after deadly drone strike

Hezbollah targets Israeli naval base after deadly drone strike
  • The group said its fighters launched rockets at a naval base near Haifa

BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli naval base on Monday, a day after a drone strike killed four soldiers in the deadliest attack on Israel since the war in Lebanon began.
The group said its fighters launched rockets at a naval base near Haifa in northern Israel, calling it a tribute to its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli military said on Monday it had intercepted another launch aimed at a training camp at Binyamina, also near Haifa, a day after four soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded in a Hezbollah drone strike.
On Monday, Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited the Golani Brigade’s training camp in Binyamina, and told soldiers: “We are at war, and an attack on a training base on the home front is difficult and the results are painful.”
Israeli volunteer rescue service United Hatzalah said its teams in Binyamina assisted more than 60 people with mild to critical injuries.
Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since Israel intensified its strikes on Lebanon on September 23 and sent ground troops across the border a week later.
Israel has vowed to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of people displaced by nearly a year of Hezbollah rocket fire launched. Hezbollah says the rocket fire is in solidarity with its Palestinian ally, Hamas.
The war, which saw an expansion in fighting and air strikes around Lebanon at the weekend, has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
On Sunday, Hezbollah threatened more attacks if Israel’s continues its offensive in Lebanon, warning Israel what it saw was “nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression.”
Escalating violence
In Lebanon, Israel has expanded its air strikes mainly on Hezbollah strongholds, while its troops in south Lebanon have engaged in fierce fighting.
Hezbollah said it shelled Israeli troops inside a southern Lebanese village Monday, after saying it targeted soldiers elsewhere along the border.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Sunday that Israeli forces had escalated air strikes on southern Lebanon, pounding border villages.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israel’s strikes on Saturday killed 51 people, including 16 in Maaysra, a Shiite Muslim village in a Christian-majority area north of Beirut.
In Nabatiyeh, in the south, residents spoke of their shock and grief after its marketplace was hit on Saturday.
“I’m staying here and I will not leave... Nabatiyeh is our mother. It’s heartbreaking to see people’s livelihoods gone,” said Tarek Sadaka, barely holding back tears.
Others have fled the city, with more than one million Lebanese leaving areas that morphed into war zones within weeks.
A UN peacekeeping force deployed in Lebanon since Israel’s 1978 invasion has been thrust onto the front lines of the latest war, with Israel repeatedly calling on it to abandon their positions.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on them to withdraw for their own safety and said their presence had “the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields.”
Five United Nations peacekeepers were injured in a series of incidents last week, with the latest seeing the UN force accuse Israeli troops of breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions.
The Israeli military later said a tank “backed several meters into a UNIFIL post” while “under fire” and attempting to evacuate injured soldiers.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said “attacks” against peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime.”
Three Lebanese soldiers were wounded on Sunday, the country’s army said, when Israeli forces fired on military vehicles in south Lebanon.
War on Gaza
The war in Lebanon erupted nearly a year after Hamas staged the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the conflict in Gaza.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
The number includes hostages killed in captivity.
The war in Gaza has killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, 42,289 people, the majority civilians. The UN has described the figures as reliable.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli shelling late Sunday on a school used as a shelter for displaced people had killed 15 people. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
“The Al-Mufti school was bombarded with a large volley of Israeli artillery, resulting in an initial death toll of 15 martyrs, including children, women and entire families, and 50 wounded,” said its spokesman, Mahmud Bassal.
Regional tensions
With the wars in Lebanon and Gaza showing no sign of abating, fears of an all-out regional conflict have seen Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas, engage in diplomatic efforts with allies and other powers.
Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran’s missile strike of October 1, prompting a pledge from Tehran’s side that it would hit back if it is hit.
Iran has, for decades, financed and trained militant groups in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and beyond, but it has yet to enter into direct conflict with its arch enemy, Israel.
On Sunday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to seek support for a Gaza and Lebanon ceasefire, according to the Iranian presidential website.
According to Macron’s office, the French leader appealed to Iran to support “a general de-escalation” in Lebanon and Gaza.
The Pentagon said it would deploy a high-altitude anti-missile system and its US military crew to Israel to help the ally protect itself from potential Iranian attack.


Second phase of polio vaccination campaign begins in Gaza, WHO says

Second phase of polio vaccination campaign begins in Gaza, WHO says
Updated 14 October 2024
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Second phase of polio vaccination campaign begins in Gaza, WHO says

Second phase of polio vaccination campaign begins in Gaza, WHO says
  • Aid groups carried out a first round of vaccinations last month

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said on X on Monday that the second phase of a polio vaccination campaign had started in central Gaza.
Aid groups carried out a first round of vaccinations last month, after a baby was partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus in August, in the first such case in the territory in 25 years.