Iran Quietly Enters Syrian Conflict
By: Daniel Gil/Contributing Writer
Iran quietly entered the Syrian conflict on Sunday with a missile strike targeting “terrorist bases.”
The strike was Iran’s first military attack on a foreign country in thirty years, and came as a response to a terrorist attack in Tehran two weeks ago on the Parliament Building and the tomb of the country’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini, which killed 17 and wounded over 50 more.
The six missiles were fired from western Iran into the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zor. The Iranian minister’s foreign advisor, Hussein Al-Islam, also stated that the strike demonstrated the strength of the nation’s Revolutionary Guards in the face of the terrorist attack. “We will not let terrorism determine the future of the region,” he continued. The strike came as the Syrian conflict enters a pivotal stage as U.S. backed coalition forces wage an assault on Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State and one of the largest cities in Syria.
The strike also comes as tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia continue, demonstrating the regional alliances coming to fruition as the Syrian civil war serves as their proxied battleground. Saudi Arabia continues to place pressure on Qatar as the small peninsular nation has become the focal point of rising tensions between Iran and the US coalition countries of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Iran, along with Russia, has been supporting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad throughout the six year conflict and have adamantly opposed Saudi Arabia’s alliance with the United States in the war. The message sent to the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel was clear; that Iran is ramping up its presence in the region and in the Syrian conflict. Following the strike, the United States shot down a Syrian aircraft Monday which Russia condemned with immediacy, stating that any US coalition forces, west of the Euphrates River in Syria would now be targeted.