Khamenei ordered missile strikes on IS targets in Syria
Dwayne Harmon24 June 2017, 10:39 Newburgh Gazette
“If the regime continues attacking our positions in Raqqa province, we will be forced to retaliate”, SDF spokesman Talal Silo said.
The US military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad’s side to stay away from a “deconfliction zone”, agreed with Russian Federation, near a garrison used by US Special Forces and US-backed armed groups around Al-Tanf.
Syrian Information Minister Mohammad Ramez Tourjman said Iran’s missile strikes against ISIS positions in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor have sent a strong message to the government of Donald Trump to drop any potential plan for launching an attack on Iran or mounting a campaign to isolate the Islamic Republic on the global arena.
It came in response to the terrorist attack in Tehran earlier this month that was claimed by Daesh.
Iran has called in the Swiss charge d’affaires, who looks after USA interests, to protest against comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson backing “peaceful transition” in the Islamic republic.
Tensions between longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have escalated in recent weeks after the Saudis and their Gulf partners cut ties to Qatar, citing, in part, its association to Iran and Tehran’s alleged link to terrorism.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif defended the attack in a Twitter post on Monday.
Syrian state television, quoting army sources, said they had resumed the offensive, which took place as USA and Russian officials were holding another round of secret talks on creating a “de-escalation zone” in southwestern Syria that would include Daraa.
The Pentagon said a US F-15 aircraft, flying over Syrian territory, fired on the drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces.
While the US military’s shootdown of a Syrian jet on Sunday was a rarity in modern warfare, the first in 18 years, it was not an isolated incident. Led by the IRGC, about 10,000 Iranian combat troops are in Syria fighting alongside thousands of fighters from Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Tehran-affiliated Shi’ite militia, and assorted Shi’ite militias.
Russian Federation reacted angrily to the USA shootdown of the Syrian jet, which the Pentagon said was dropping bombs near the US -backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a mixed Kurdish-Arab militia fighting Islamic State.
Israel’s military Chief of Staff is disputing Iranian claims of successfully launching missiles at militants in Syria.
The operation “targeted Takfiri forces in the Deir Ezzor region in Eastern Syria”.
The coalition’s presence in Tanf, on the Damascus-Baghdad highway, was meant to stop Iranian-backed groups from opening an overland route between Iraq and Syria, intelligence sources have said. After the drone was shot down on Tuesday, Russians made an announcement that the United States coalition warplanes will be tracked and targeted flying west to the river Euphrates.
Still, analysts caution that Tehran’s rhetoric may be more for domestic consumption.
“The military and our security forces are constantly monitoring the activity of Iran in the region”, Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by the Likud.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the main opposition, is planning a conference in Washington to provide information about Iran’s missile program which is advancing at a rapid pace.
