Iran says missile attack in Syria killed 40 ‘leaders’ of Daesh

LONDON — Iran said the missile attack it launched in Syria on Monday had killed 40 “top leaders” of Daesh, and that intelligence for the operation had been provided by its elite Quds Force.

Iran fired six missiles at targets in the Abu Kamal and Hajin regions in eastern Syria, in retaliation for an attack on a military parade in Iran on September 22 that killed 25 people, nearly half of them members of its Revolutionary Guard.

The Quds Force is in charge of the Revolutionary Guard’s overseas operations.

“Based on the information we have received, around 40 top leaders of Daesh were killed in this attack,” General Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard’s aerospace division, was quoted on Tuesday by Iran’s state media as saying. 

“One of the highlights of this operation was that the Quds Force had provided the intelligence needed for the attack.”

Daesh and the Ahwaz National Resistance, a separatist ethnic Arab movement in Iran, have both claimed responsibility for the September 22 attack, but neither has presented conclusive evidence.