Israel’s Warning to Tehran in Damascus
Reza Mousavi, Senior Commander of the Quds Force in Syria, Killed
Israel’s warning to Tehran in Damascus during the missile attacks on Monday, December 25th, targeting the Zeynabieh area in the outskirts of Damascus, resulted in the death of a veteran commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to domestic media reports, Seyed Reza Mousavi, known as Seyed Reza, whom the state news agency IRNA described as one of the greatest and most prominent commanders of the Quds Force, lost his life in this attack.
Comrade of Soleimani, Senior Commander in Syria
In a statement announcing Reza’s death, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps described him as responsible for supporting the resistance front in Syria. It was also added that he was a comrade of Qasem Soleimani, and images of these two deceased Quds Force commanders together have been published. Al-Mayadeen network, close to the Islamic Republic, also reported that Seyed Reza had been targeted for assassination several times in recent years.
The website of the Center for Combating Terrorism Financing, which states its goal as exposing terrorist groups and their financial sources and supporters, introduced Seyed Reza on July 19, 2023, as the commander of Quds Force Unit 2250, a subset of Unit 2000 in Syria. Command of Units 700 and 820 were also other speculations mentioned in various reports regarding Reza’s position.
The Center for Combating Terrorism Financing, which claims to identify terrorist groups, their members, and supporters, including Boko Haram, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah, Lebanon, had introduced Seyed Reza as responsible for overseeing special logistical operations of the Guard in Syria. According to this center, which seems to have connections with Israeli security centers, Mousavi controlled several Iranian bases in Syria, including in Damascus, Latakia, Hama, Aleppo, and Deir ez-Zor.
Few details about Seyed Reza Mousavi’s background are seen in Iranian media, likely due to his sensitive position, which the Islamic Republic preferred to keep unknown. However, Hossein Akbari, Iran’s ambassador to Syria, in an interview with Mehr News Agency, introduced Reza as the second counselor of the Iranian embassy in Syria. This news agency also noted that Reza was one of the oldest advisors of the Guard in Syria, quoting Akbari as saying Seyed Reza had advisory activities during his presence in Syria and operated there with a diplomatic passport.
Logistics Officer of the Quds Force in Syria
Since the news of Seyed Reza’s death was released, many have introduced him as the logistics officer of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard in Syria, overseeing the process of transferring weapons from this country to Lebanon. The analytical news site Amwaj Media also wrote in a report that Reza played a role in delivering Fateh-class surface-to-surface ballistic missiles to Lebanon. It is also said that after Javad Ghaffari’s departure from Syria, who acted as the senior commander of Iranian militia forces in that country, Reza’s role became more significant, even becoming one of the highest-ranking forces of the Islamic Republic in Syria.
Javad Ghaffari suddenly returned from Syria to Iran two years ago in the fall. The officials of the Islamic Republic described his return to Tehran as a routine process, citing the end of his mission as the reason. However, Al Arabiya reported that Ghaffari was expelled from Syria due to disagreements with Bashar Assad. Israeli officials, as per usual, did not officially claim responsibility for the missile attack on Seyed Reza Mousavi’s residence, but the Islamic Republic holds Israel responsible for the death of its senior commander in Syria.
Israel’s Message to Iran
In such a situation, by reviewing Israel’s previous attacks on Iranian positions, the manner and reason for the precise attack on Seyed Reza Mousavi’s residence can probably be better analyzed. On November 26th of this year, Israel targeted Damascus Airport several times in airstrikes, rendering the airport out of service just a few hours after resuming flights. This is while this airport had previously been inactive for a while due to a similar attack in October. In the same month, Aleppo Airport was also targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
Since the war between Israel and the extremist group Hamas, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist group, Israeli airstrikes on targets in Syria have intensified. These attacks, unlike before, focus more on Aleppo and Damascus airports rather than the warehouses associated with the Revolutionary Guard or drone production centers.
Hamidreza Azizi, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, says that given Syria can act as both a base for attacking Israel and a transit center for weapons to Lebanon, it has attracted more attention from Israeli officials since the start of the Hamas-Israel war. This action is essentially aimed at disabling the base because when the transit route is targeted by Israel, it fundamentally prevents the shipment from reaching its destination, making the task easier for Israel.
This regional foreign policy expert adds that Israel’s goal was to damage Iran’s weapons transfer network to Lebanon and militias in southern Syria. Therefore, considering reports that identify Mr. Seyed Reza Mousavi as responsible for Iran’s logistics and weapons transfer, the missile attack on him can be analyzed and evaluated within this framework.
He adds that another part of this operation was probably carried out to send a message to Iran, meaning that given the expansion of Houthi actions and the increased level of conflicts by Hezbollah Lebanon, Israel, which previously did not target senior Iranian officers in Syria, is now sending Tehran a message with this operation that when you escalate the level of conflict, we will not remain passive and will take reciprocal action. Therefore, this attack should be considered Israel’s attempt to restore its deterrent capability.
Hossein Akbari says Seyed Reza Mousavi was at the Iranian embassy until 2 PM on Monday and then went to his home in Zeynabieh, Damascus. According to the Iranian ambassador to Syria, three missiles hit Seyed Reza’s house at 4:20 PM local time, precisely when his wife was not home. All three missiles successfully hit their target, which was the home of this senior Quds Force commander in Syria.