Iran’s IRGC says Oct. 7 attacks on Israel were revenge for Soleimani; Hamas denies

Al-Arabia – The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that Hamas’ October 7 attacks against Israel were revenge for slain Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, a claim that was quickly denied by the Palestinian group.

“The Al-Aqsa Flood was one of the acts of revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani by the US and the Zionists,” Iran’s ISNA news agency quoted IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif as telling reporters, using the name Hamas has dubbed its October 7 attacks on Israel.

“Certainly, these revenges will continue in different times and places,” Sharif said.

Hamas swiftly denied Sharif’s comments, saying all of its actions are “in response to the presence of the occupation and its continued aggression against our people and our sanctities.”

Sharif’s comments came ahead of the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s death, who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in January 2020.

Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the IRGC, was seen by many as the most powerful figure in the Islamic Republic after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Tehran has repeatedly vowed to avenge him.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which governs Gaza, in retaliation for its October 7 attacks. Israeli officials say the attacks killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 240 people were taken hostage.

Israel’s air and ground campaign has killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities in the Palestinian territory.

Iran, a key source of financial and military support for Hamas, praised the October 7 attacks while denying any involvement in its planning or execution.

Top commander killed in Syria

Sharif vowed a “harsh revenge” against Israel for the killing of Seyed Razi Mousavi, a senior Quds Force commander in Syria.

Asked whether Iran will retaliate directly to or through the “Axis of Resistance” – a network of regional militant groups supported by Tehran – Sharif said: “A combination of the two will certainly be carried out.”

He argued that Israel targeted Mousavi due to the “irreparable defeats” it suffered following the October 7 attacks. “[Israel killed Mousavi] in order to get rid of the pressure of the relentless attacks of the resistance front in Gaza.”

The IRGC said in a statement on Monday that Brig. Gen. Mousavi was killed in an Israeli “missile attack” earlier that day.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a message the same day, warning that Israel “will certainly pay for this crime.”

Israel’s military chief, asked on Tuesday about Mousavi’s death, declined to comment but said Israeli forces work throughout the region.

Mousavi was in charge of providing “logistical support to the Axis of Resistance in Syria,” the IRGC statement said, adding that he was a “companion” of Soleimani.

Iranian state news agency IRNA described Mousavi as one of the Quds Force’s most experienced advisors. It said he was killed in an Israeli attack in Sayyida Zeinab south of Damascus.

In recent years, Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against both Iranian-backed groups and Syrian military forces inside Syria.

Iran, a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, has played a key role in the Syrian conflict since its beginning in 2011, dispatching thousands of Iranian and foreign fighters to back the Syrian regime.