Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday, issued a warning to Israel, stating that either the Iranian military or its affiliated groups would take “direct” action in retaliation for the killing of senior commander Razi Moussavi.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Israel on Wednesday that it or its allied groups would take “direct” action to avenge the killing of senior commander Razi Moussavi.

The general was killed Monday in an Israeli missile strike near the Syrian capital, according to state media, at a time of heightened regional tensions around the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza.

The Israeli army, which has launched hundreds of strikes on Iran-linked targets in war-torn Syria in recent years, said only that it does not comment on foreign media reports.

The body of Moussavi, a commander in the Guards’ foreign operations arm the Quds Force, was taken to Iraq for funeral rites in Shiite Muslim holy sites a day ahead of his burial in Iran planned for Thursday.

IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif warned that “our response to Moussavi’s assassination will be a combination of direct action as well as (from) others led by the Axis of Resistance,” the local Mehr news agency reported.

Sharif charged that the Israeli killing of the general near Damascus “was likely due to its failures after the ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood'” — a reference to the October 7 attacks Hamas launched against Israel.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP