Iran accuses Israel of killing top official in missile strike in Syria

Iran accused Israel on Monday of killing a high-level military figure in a missile strike in Syria at a time when concerns are growing that the war in the Gaza Strip could escalate into a regional conflict.

The assassinated Iranian was identified as Brig. Gen. Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He was said to have helped oversee the shipment of missiles and other arms to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed military force in Lebanon and Syria that is a frequent adversary of Israel’s.

Israel, adopting its customary stance, declined to comment directly on the accusations, but Israeli officials acknowledged that they were preparing for the prospect of Iranian retaliation.

Israel is already waging a major war in Gaza and skirmishing with Hezbollah fighters on its northern border with Lebanon. And on the Red Sea, in response to the Gaza conflict, Yemen-based Houthi forces — also backed by Iran — have been widening the conflict by targeting vessels.

In confirming Mousavi’s killing, on a farm outside Damascus, Syria, Hezbollah described him as a “dear brother.” The semiofficial Iranian news agency Fars said that Israel would “pay for this crime without a doubt.” Various news outlets said he was killed Monday.

While Israeli officials declined to comment on who was behind the killing, they confirmed that the general was dead.

“I am not referring to this or that operation in the Middle East reported by non-Israeli media,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces. “The IDF has a role, of course: to protect and safeguard the security interests of the state of Israel.”

With both Iran and Hezbollah accusing Israel, the Israeli armed forces were put on high alert Sunday, one military official said. The military, the official said, expects the possible use of rockets or drones launched from Syria and Lebanon at Israel.

And more road closures were expected in northern Israel, where some routes had already been shut down because of the fighting with Hezbollah.

Mousavi was described as having been a close associate of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a highly popular Iranian security intelligence commander who was killed by a U.S. strike in Baghdad in 2020. In announcing Mousavi’s death, Fars published a photograph of him and Soleimani posing close together.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.