TEHRAN- Syria has denounced the Israeli killing of a senior Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) member who was working as a military advisor in Damascus at the Arab government’s formal request.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called on the UN to take charge of stopping Israel’s aggressive tactics that jeopardize global peace and security, in two identical letters to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council on Thursday. 

On December 25, the Syrian Ministry requested that the UN needs to intervene forcefully against the most recent Israeli offensive that was directed towards the Sayyida Zeinab locality in the countryside of Damascus.

“At 16:20 pm last Monday evening, the Israeli occupation forces carried out an act of aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the vicinity of Damascus City, which led to the martyrdom of the military advisor at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the ministry said.

Mousavi was an experienced military advisor and one of the IRGC commanders tasked with providing “logistical support to the axis of resistance in Syria.”

He was a close companion of senior Iranian anti-terror hero Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a January 2020 U.S. drone attack in Iraq.

Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, told reporters that three missiles hit his residence outside Damascus just hours after he returned from the Iranian embassy.

Akbari emphasized that Mousavi had a diplomatic passport and residency, and that his assassination violated international accords.

At Damascus’ request, Iran continues an advisory mission in Syria to assist the Arab nation in eliminating terrorists with international backing who have been battling the Syrian government since 2011.

The Israeli regime and the U.S. have been hand-in-glove with Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria, carrying out frequent attacks on forces associated with the Syrian government and its allies.

Israel is urgently trying to escalate the confrontation in order to hide its crimes against people in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Syrian ministry said.

“This brutal Israeli aggression against the sovereignty of the Syrian territories is part of the occupying authorities’ attempt to expand and escalate their aggression in the region and to cover up war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and brutal massacres committed daily against the defenseless Palestinian people and to escape their failure in the face of the will and determination of the Palestinian people,” it said.

The ministry stated that Israel’s bombings on Syria breached Syrian sovereignty and international law, vowing to continue combating Israeli-backed terrorists.

“The Syrian Arab Republic is committed to its inalienable right to defend its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, as affirmed in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and stresses that Israel’s hysterical acts of aggression will not deter it from continuing to combat terrorism that is backed by Israel and its sponsors, nor will they limit its intention to restore its occupied territories.”

By attacking military installations inside Syria, the Israeli regime routinely infringes on the country’s sovereignty.

Since foreign-backed militancy emerged in Syria in early 2011, the Tel Aviv regime has been a major sponsor of terrorist groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Syria has regularly appealed to the United Nations about Israeli attacks, pleading with the Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s atrocities.