Israel kills Iranian general in Syrian strike

Israel has killed a high-ranking Iranian general in an airstrike in Syria, according to Iranian state media. 

The strike killed Seyed Razi Mousavi, an adviser to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria, in the Sayida Zeinab neighborhood of the capital Damascus. The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian military. 

Iran’s state-run news agency reported Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Israel will pay for Mousavi’s death. Raisi said Mousavi was a close associate of the deceased Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli military targeted Mousavi after he entered a farm in the area, allegedly one of several offices for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

The strike comes amid continued clashes between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border. 

Israeli strikes killed two other generals in Syria earlier this month. It has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years. 

Israel has said strikes in Syria were targeting Iranian-backed groups that have supported the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but it usually does not acknowledge its strikes in Syria. 

The Associated Press contributed.