Israel Blamed for Attacking Iranian Assets in Syria After Visit by New Quds Force Chief

Israel is being accused of striking Iranian assets in eastern Syria following a visit to the region by Esmail Ghaani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog group, Israel was “likely responsible” for a series of bombings close to the Syria-Iraq border that killed six people. The strikes came after Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that the Quds Force chief had toured the Abu Kamal area, which is known as a conduit for the transfer of Iranian weaponry into the war-torn country. Western media, citing the Iranian report (which was later removed for unspecified reasons), quoted Ghaani as accusing both Israel and the United States of supporting the Islamic State terror group. Ghaani is the successor to Qasem Soleimani, who in January was killed in Baghdad in a US drone strike. Satellite images released last month appeared to show that Tehran was building an underground weapons storage facility at the Imam Ali military base located near Abu Kamal. Israel has over the past 10 days been blamed for at least three separate attacks in Syria.