Iran holds funeral of a general killed in alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran held a funeral Thursday for a high-ranking general in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who was assassinated. An alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria.

Hundreds of mourners accompanied General Razi Mousavi’s flag-draped coffin from Tehran’s central square to a shrine in the north of the city where he was buried.

The head of the Guard, General Hossein Salami, praised Mousavi and vowed that his death would be avenged.

“We will never remain silent in the face of the martyrdom of the sons of this country,” Salami said. From the face of existence.

Iran does not recognize Israel and sometimes calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

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Salami called Mousavi his close friend General Qasim SuleimaniThe head of Iran’s elite Quds Force was killed in a US drone strike. in Iraq In January 2020. He said Iran would also avenge Soleimani’s death and that Hamas would attack in southern Israel on October 7, sparking violence. war in gaza Was an unrelated and independent action.

“I officially declare that the Al-Aqsa storming was and is completely Palestinian. Palestine is capable of itself,” the general said.

The crowd chanted, “No compromise! no Surrender! War with America!”

Israel views Iran as its biggest threat because of Tehran’s disputed nuclear program and its support for regional terrorist groups such as Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have targeted international shipping in what has been portrayed as a blockade of Israel. Have done.

Iran insists that its regional allies act independently.

Earlier on Thursday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed in front of Mousavi’s coffin, as state TV footage showed. Khamenei expressed condolences to the general’s family and a group of ranking officials present at the prayer.

The killing of a longtime adviser to the Guard in Syria comes amid ongoing fears of an Israel-Hamas war expansion in regional conflict, Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have launched attacks on Israel and its allies in support of Hamas.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria. He sometimes says he is targeting Iran-backed groups that have supported the government of President Bashar Assad. Iran spoke of an Israeli attack earlier this month killed two of his generals,

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