Iran fires missiles into Syria in response to Ahvaz parade attack
Iran said it struck extremists in Syria with ballistic missiles and combat drones yesterday in retaliation for a deadly attack on an Iranian military parade, warning the “real punishment” was still to come.
Last month’s shooting in the Iranian city of Ahvaz killed 24 people and was claimed by ISIS.
The pre-dawn strike by Iran, which has vowed to boost its ballistic missile capabilities despite western concerns, targeted the town of Hajin, about 24 kilometres north of Al Bukamal near Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, state TV reported.
“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 Revolutionary Guards,” the Guards said on their website.
“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.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the strike targeted “a recognised and specific focal point of terrorists on the east of the Euphrates”.
“It was necessary,” he said. Six medium-range ballistic missiles were fired from western Iran at 2am, dealing a “fatal blow”, the Guards said, before seven drones were fired at the “mercenary terrorists”.
Local media reported that, based on published images, the drones were locally produced Saegheh craft, reverse-engineered from the American RQ170 Sentinel captured by Iran in 2011.
The Tasnim news agency said the operation was the Guards’ first officially announced combat drone operation outside of Iran’s borders.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said heavy explosions took place at dawn in the last pocket of Syrian territory under ISIS control near Al Bukamal.
The town of Al Bukamal is held by regime forces and allied regional militiamen who seized it from ISIS last year.
Iran’s Fars news agency said the Zolfaghar and Qiam missiles had ranges of 750km and 800km respectively.
“On at least one of the missiles was written ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel’,” it said.
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.
Houshang Bazvand, the governor of Kermanshah Province, from where the missiles were reportedly launched, has denied reports on social media that one of the weapons crashed inside the province.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had promised a “crushing” response to the September 22 attack by five gunmen on the military parade in Ahvaz, a mainly Arab city, while the Guards threatened “unforgettable revenge”.
The missile strike “was only a jab against these criminals.
The real punishment is yet to come,” Gen Mohsen Rezai, former commander-in-chief of the Guards and now secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, wrote on Twitter.
ISIS, which Iran and its Damascus ally are fighting in Syria, said all five of the Ahvaz attackers were Iranian, including four from the city.
They also threatened to carry out more attacks in Iran.
ISIS had already claimed responsibility for twin attacks in June last year on the parliament and the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, which killed 17 people.
After that assault, the Guards said they had fired missiles into Syria and hit ISIS targets.
The Guards have a heavy official presence in Syria as “military advisers” in support of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.