IRGC military advisor killed in US aerial aggression on Syria

Behrouz Vahedi was martyred when US airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in Dayr al-Zawr Province in the early hours of Tuesday, according to media reports.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) confirmed the reports of the US attack and said, “Seven soldiers and one civilian” were killed in the aerial aggression launched by US occupation forces on several villages, towns and military sites in the eastern province.

The news agency said the airstrikes also left 19 soldiers and 13 civilians injured, causing material damage to public and private property.

Syrian media said US warplanes carried out 10 simultaneous strikes on residential neighborhoods and military installations in the province, including the cities of Dayr al-Zawr, Mayadin and Bukamal.

Iran maintains an advisory mission in Syria at the request of Damascus to help the war-torn Arab country defeat the foreign-backed militants who have been fighting the democratically-elected government since 2011.

Israel and the United States frequently target military positions inside Syria, especially those of resistance fighters, who have played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.

Their attacks on Syria’s civilian and military infrastructure have grown in intensity since Israel ignited its bloody war machine in the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry denounced the US airstrikes and said Damascus holds Washington accountable for the brutal aggression on Syria’s territory.

“Syria condemns this aggression and affirms its right to self-defense and hold the aggressor accountable by the means stipulated by international law; it cannot forget those who attack its lands and commit crimes against its people.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the massacres committed by US and Israeli forces in the region would only add to tensions and keep the region “explosive and flammable.”

The United States, the ministry stated, must end its illegal presence on the Syrian territory and its open support for Daesh and other terrorist organizations it finances and supports.

Damascus calls on all those countries who seek to maintain sovereignty, freedom and independence to condemn the Tuesday act of aggression, the statement said.

The Syrian government also urged collective efforts toward ending the “illegal presence” of the United States in Syria and its “terrorist military operations in the region.”

There are roughly 2,500 US troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria as part of what Washington claims to be a fighting force against Daesh. The US has maintained its presence, although, the Arab countries and their allies defeated the Takfiri terrorist group in late 2017.