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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has launched several missiles at ISIL positions in Syria’s Deir Az Zor province. These missile attacks are in retaliation for two deadly attacks that struck Tehran on June 7th, 2017. The militant terrorist group The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack in Tehran.
“Medium-range missiles were fired from the (western) provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdestan, and a large number of terrorists were killed and weapons destroyed,” the Guard said in a statement published on its Sepahnews website this Sunday.
“The spilling of any pure blood will not go unanswered,” it added.
The guard said that they fired missiles on “a command base .. of the terrorists in Deir Ezzor,” (another name for the Deir Az Zor province).
Iranian television showed their audience footage of the missiles being fired into the night.
This is the first time that Iran has fired missiles outside of its own territory in 30 years. Hours before the missiles were fired, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a statement on his website, that Iran would “slap its enemies” to honor their friends and family members who have fallen at the hands of ISIL.
Let’s look at why Iran is retaliating against ISIS
On June 7th, members of ISIS attacked the the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, killing 17 people in their warpath. Khonmeini was Iran’s first supreme leader, he was a revolutionary and guiding figure who helped oust the shah in 1979.
However, senior Iranian officials have shifted the blame on Saudi Arabia, asserting that the Islamic kingdom was promoting “terrorist attacks in Iran.”
Iran is a key ally of Russia, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement of Lebanon, and the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
According to Iran’s IRNA news agency, about 2,000 Iranian soldiers have perished in the war within Iraq and Syria.
