Iran warns missile attack on IS in Syria can be repeated

The Guard said it launched the strikes on Sunday in retaliation for attacks in Tehran earlier this month that were claimed by the Islamic State group. Iran has been involved in Syria’s long-running civil war, in which it has backed embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Iranian state television quoted Gen Ramazan Sharif on Monday as saying that “if they (IS) carry out a specific action to violate our security, definitely there will be more launches, with intensified strength.” He spoke as part of a TV package about the missile launches, showing them shoot off into the night from the western province of Kermanshah. The Guard said it fired six missiles in total from Kermanshah and also from Iran’s Kurdistan province into Syria’s Deir el-Zour province, where IS has been trying to fortify its positions in the face of a US-led coalition onslaught.

But the missiles sent a message to more than just the extremists in Iraq and Syria, Sharif told state television in a telephone interview. 

“The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message.” Said Sharif. “Obviously and clearly, some reactionary countries of the region, especially Saudi Arabia, had announced that they are trying to bring insecurity into Iran.” Activists in Syria said they had no immediate information on damage or casualties from the strikes.

An American fighter jet has for the first time downed a Syrian warplane that Washington accused of attacking US-backed fighters, in a new escalation between the United States and regime forces.

The incident further complicates the country’s six-year war and comes as a US-led coalition and allied fighters battle to oust the Islamic State group from its Syrian bastion Raqa.

Government ally Iran also on Sunday launched missiles from its territory against alleged IS positions in eastern Syria for the first time, in response to an IS-claimed attack in Tehran.

Analysts say neither Washington nor President Bashar al- Assad’s regime appear to be seeking further confrontation, but warn that the risks are high in Syria’s increasingly crowded battlefields.

The Syrian jet was shot down on Sunday evening after regime forces engaged fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance battling with US support against IS, in an area close to Raqa.

The American F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down the Syrian SU-22 around 7 pm as it “dropped bombs near SDF fighters” south of the town of Tabqa, the coalition said in a statement.

It said that several hours earlier, regime forces had attacked the SDF in another town near Tabqa, wounding several and driving the SDF from the town.

The coalition said the Syrian warplane had been shot down “in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defence of Coalition partnered forces”.

Syria’s army disputed the account, saying its plane was hit while “conducting a mission against the terrorist Islamic State group.” It warned of “the grave consequences of this flagrant aggression”.