Iran fires missiles at militants in Syria linked to attack

GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran fired missiles at militants in Syria it blamed for an attack at a military parade in southwestern Iran last week, the Revolutionary Guards said on Monday in a statement published on Sepah News, the Guards’ official news site.

Several militants were killed in the missile attack in the Albu Kamal region of eastern Syria, according to Fars News. The militants were targeted in the eastern Euphrates region, the Guards said in their statement.

The Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab separatist movement, and the Islamic State have both claimed responsibility for last week’s attack, which killed 25 people.

Neither group has presented conclusive evidence to back up their claim.

The Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the Islamic Republic, said in the statement six missiles were fired into Syria from western Iran.

Seven drones were also used to bomb militant targets during the attack, the Guards said.

Twelve Guards were among the 25 people killed on Sept. 22 when gunmen fired on a viewing stand as military officials watched a ceremony in the city of Ahvaz marking the start of Iran’s 1980-1988 war with Iraq.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, said last week that the militants responsible for the Ahvaz attack were paid by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and that Iran would “severely punish” those behind the violence.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have denied involvement in the attack.

Fars News posted video footage of several missiles streaking into a dark sky during the attack.

“Death to the family of Saud,” “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel” were written on one of the missiles shown on the Fars News site.