Iran fires missiles at Syria 'terrorist' camp in response to army parade attack
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Iran fires missiles at Syria 'terrorist' camp in response to army parade attack
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i24NEWS - AFP
HO (IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS WEBSITE/AFP)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Monday they had launched a missile attack against a "terrorist" headquarters in Syria in retaliation for a September attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz.
"The headquarters of those responsible for the terrorist crime in Ahvaz was attacked a few minutes ago east of the Euphrates by several ballistic missiles fired by the aerospace branch of the Guardians of the Revolution," the Guards said on their official website.
Syrian state media did not immediately acknowledge the strike.
"Based on preliminary reports, many takfiri terrorists and the leaders responsible for the terrorist crime in Ahvaz have been killed or wounded in this missile attack," the Guards added.
The term "takfiri", derived from the Arabic word for anathema, is used by the Iranian authorities to refer to Sunni jihadists.
The Guards released pictures of what appeared to be missiles lighting up the night sky, leaving trails of smoke as they soared above a desert region with a rugged mountain in the background.
According to Iran's Fars news agency, the Guards fired Zolfaghar and Qiam missiles, with a range of 750 kilometers and 800 kilometers (465 and 500 miles), respectively.
The agency said the missiles hit the Syrian desert border town of Albu Kamal on the west of the Euphrates River, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
ATTA KENARE (AFP)
"On at least one of the missiles was written 'death to America', 'death to Israel' and 'death to Al Saud'," it said, a reference to the ruling family in Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional rival.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, "heavy explosions took place at dawn (Monday) in the last pocket under IS control near Albu Kamal".
Albu Kamal itself, located on the border with Iraq, is held by regime forces and allied regional militiamen who seized it from IS in 2007.
- 'Crushing' response -
Iran vowed revenge last week after four assailants attacked a military parade, held to mark the start of the eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1980, killing 29 people and wounding at least 60 more including women and children.
"The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing", Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on his official website following the incident. "Those who give intelligence and propaganda support to these terrorists must answer for it."
Iranian authorities have blamed Arab separatist movement the Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front (ADPF) as the main suspect but also directed accusations at the United States, Israel and Gulf Arab monarchies for the suspected financing, recruiting and training of Sunni terrorists involved.
The United States condemned the incident and issued support for the Iranian people "against the scourge of radical terrorism."
The Islamic State (IS) group also claimed responsibility in the southwestern city but this was quickly dismissed by Tehran due to factually incorrect claims related to the attack.
AP Photo/Mehr News Agency, Mehdi Pedramkhoo
In response Tehran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain to complain about them "hosting some members of the terrorist group" and "double standards in fighting terrorism," the foreign affairs ministry said.
"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks" Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in a tweet on Saturday. Echoing Rouhani's threats, he also pledged that Iran would "respond swiftly and decisively."
According to the semi-official Fars news agency, two gunmen opened fire on the large crowd of spectators partaking in the army parade and then attempted to attack the viewing stand for official dignitaries before being shot by security forces.
Three attackers were killed at the scene and a fourth died later of his injuries.
“You have seen our revenge before,” deputy IRGC chief Brigadier General Hossein Salami said at the victims funeral amid public chants of "death to America" and "death to Israel."
“You will see that our response will be crushing and devastating and you will regret what you have done," Salami warned.
The city of Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.
(More to follow)
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October 1, 2018 10:19 AM
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