Media and citizens in Iran have been discussing the potential involvement of Russia and Syria in providing intelligence to Israel regarding the locations of IRGC officers prior to a precision strike last week.
Speculations are arising amidst calls from Iranian hardliners for a rapid and decisive reaction to the Israeli strike on April 1, targeting the Islamic Republic's Consulate in Damascus, resulting in the deaths of two top IRGC Quds Force generals and five other officers.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials and military commanders have maintained their stance that Iran will retaliate at a time of its choosing.
Conversely, reports in some Arab media outlets suggest that Iran might refrain from seeking revenge on Israel if Tel Aviv backs away from the notion of attacking Rafah in its conflict with Hamas.
In an editorial on April 8, Masih Mohajeri, the influential managing editor of Jomhouri Eslami daily, a newspaper that was founded by Ali Khamenei in 1979, asked: "Why Russia, which controls the Syrian airspace does not prevent air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria?" Also implicating Syria and possibly Iranian infiltrators in tipping off the Israelis, Mohajeri wrote: "We have had too many losses in Syria during the past months and this is certainly because of the treason by infiltrators."
Since December, Israel has eliminated 18 high ranking IRGC officers in Syria, in what appears to be a systematic campaign to limit the danger of Iranian proxies on its borders. Almost all the IRGC generals and officers stationed in Syria and Lebanon are tasked with directing and coordinating a mixture of Afghan, Iraqi, Syria and Lebanese proxy forces.
"We had warned about this repeatedly during the past months, but no one seems to have heard the warnings. Have Iranian officials ever asked themselves why such attacks never take place against Russian forces in Syria and why Russia's advanced air defense does not prevent Israel's crimes against Iran?"Jomhouri Eslami wrote.
The editorial emphasized that slogans like "replacing fallen officers with fresh blood" overlook the significant investment Iran has made in the expertise, skill, and efficiency of the highly trained officers who were lost. The publication highlighted Iran's robust intelligence and security capabilities, suggesting that these assets should be utilized to prevent such tragic losses in the future.
Advocating for a comprehensive review of Iran's security apparatus, the editorial posed critical questions: "Instead of boasting after each attack, why not prioritize preventive measures? Isn't it time to reassess our security posture?"
Meanwhile on social media, Ehsan Arian, an Iranian who appears to be an opposition activist with more than 23k followers, wrote more clearly about Syria's possible role in tipping off the Israelis. Arian wrote that it was clear since 2019 that Bashar al-Assad was simply tolerating the IRGC Qods Force's presence in Syria rather than welcoming it.
He suggested that Iranian security agencies have briefed the Supreme Council of National Security about the involvement of Syrian insiders and certain elements within the Iranian regime in the Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian commanders and military advisers in Syria.
Iran had previously urged Syria to conduct a joint investigation into this matter following the killing of Seyed Razi Musavi in December. However, it seems that Iran has discovered that Syria's Intelligence organization and Presidential Guards impeded the investigation, as stated in the tweet from April 9.
The lengthy tweet continued to assert that subsequently, Iran and Hezbollah conducted a separate investigation, which revealed the involvement of Iranian infiltrators and Syrian agents. If these reports are confirmed, it is unlikely that Bashar Assad was unaware of them.
The tweet, however, did not dismiss the potential role of Russian forces collaborating with Syrian officers. Hezbollah acknowledges that many of its members killed in Israeli airstrikes since October 7 had some form of contact with Russian and Syrian intelligence, according to the tweet.
Other reports on social media also say Syrian officers who wish Iran to leave Syria give away the whereabouts of Iranian officers to Israelis.
