A deliberate killing of an Iranian general would represent an escalation in the hostility between Israel and Iran. An Iranian general was among the dead in an Israeli air strike that also killed several Hezbollah fighters in southern Syria over the weekend, the official Iranian news media announced on Monday.
The announcement compounded the tension and unpredictability in the region stemming from the strike, which placed Israel in a direct battlefield confrontation on Syrian soil with its longtime enemies Iran and Hezbollah, The New York Times reports.
The death of the general, Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, also added to the evidence of Iran’s deep military involvement in Syria’s civil war.
General Allahdadi’s death was announced on the website of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and by news media affiliated with Hezbollah and the Iranian government.
The Iranian announcement said that he had been inspecting the region of Quneitra, near the disputed Golan Heights, which is occupied by Israel.
The announcement also said the general had been advising Syrians on how to fight terrorism, which is how Damascus characterizes its battle against an insurgency that began nearly four years ago with peaceful protests for political reforms. It now includes fighters from the Islamic State and the Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
Iran’s government has long said it is advising and training Syrian loyalist forces, and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah has openly declared that it is fighting in Syria. Syrian insurgents have long insisted that Iranian troops are directly involved on the battlefield.
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