IRGC: Israel to pay for air raid that claimed Iranian lives in Syria

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the IRGC confirmed the martyrdom of two of its members in the Israeli aerial strike, which hit positions south of Damascus in a pre-dawn raid a day earlier.

The martyrs were identified as IRGC Colonels Ehsan Karbalaei-pour and Morteza Saeednejad.

“Without any doubt, the Zionist regime will pay for this crime,” the statement said.

The IRGC also offered sympathy with the bereaved families of the two martyrs and fellow soldiers.

The IRGC has sent military advisors to Syria at the request of the Damascus government in order to boost the Arab country’s fight against terror groups, many of which are Israeli-backed.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry sharply condemned the Israeli crime and reaffirmed that the regime will not go unpunished.

The ministry’s spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said the Israeli crime stemmed from the aggressive, occupying and terrorist nature of the regime.

He added that holding the regime to account for its inhumane atrocities is among the goals of the region’s resistance axis.

Israel has stepped up its air raids on Syria over the past few years, after the Syrian army, backed by Iran and Russia, dealt stinging blows to foreign-sponsored terrorist groups on the battlefield and liberated almost all parts of the country.