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On November 23, 2022, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) announced that on November 22, IRGC Aerospace Colonel Davoud Jafari was killed by an explosion near Damascus, Syria, and accused Israel of responsibility.[1]
Following the announcement, on the same day, the Sabereen News Telegram channel for research and security analysis which supports the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, reported the incident and posted photographs of the deceased colonel, the damaged car in which he had been travelling, and the funeral that was held in Iran in the presence of senior regime officials.[2]
The channel describes Jafari's assassination as "a dangerous development in the 'war between the wars' which the Zionist entity has been conducting in Syria for several years now." It further states that Jafar was a "prominent personality in the aerospace sphere and the question that now arises is: Has the enemy decided to escalate its activities in Syria and advance to a new stage?" It also notes that the IRGC is likely to avenge the death.
Sabereen News refers to the equation that Hizbullah drew several years ago, which holds that it will retaliate against Israel every time one of its members is killed in a targeted killing or by an Israeli air attack in Syria.[3] The channel writes that Hizbullah was true to its word and deterred Israel which, it claims, as a result has refrained from attacking members of the organization.
The channel asserts that, "Deterrence is the best solution regarding the Zionist entity which understands only the language of blood. This is what the Iranians must do, for if not the enemy will continue with its actions. The Zionists do not fear declarations or operations which are likely to be fake, in other words intended for the media. Only blood frightens them and that is what must happen in the near future. The ways to accomplish this are many."
[1] Twitter.com/IranIntl_En, November 23, 2022.
[2] Telegram, November 23, 2022.
[3] See MEMRI TV Report: Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: We Will Confront Israeli Drones in Lebanon, Retaliate Against Israel, Aug 25, 2019.
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