Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it launched a series of missiles at Syrian terror bases in revenge for deadly attacks on its capital that were claimed by Islamic State.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Iran not to threaten Israel after Tehran said it launched missiles at Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria. While Iran has other ballistic missiles it says can reach longer distances, Sunday night's launch appears to mark the longest strike it has launched overseas.
Iran fired six missiles from the western part of the country into eastern Syria targeting what it called "terrorist bases" in Deir ez-Zor.
General Ramazan Sharif of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) warned ISIS from carrying out future attacks because "if they carry out a specific action to violate our security, definitely there will be more launches, with intensified strength".
The attacks have showcased the depth of Iran's military presence in Syria: Iranian drones launched from areas around Damascus allowed Revolutionary Guard commanders to assess the damage done by the missiles in real-time.
"The bigger slap is yet to come", the ex-IRGC leader tweeted.
A U.S. F-15E fighter aircraft shot down an Iranian-made drone over southern Syria on Tuesday, the US military said, marking the second time this week that the USA military has shot a pro-Syrian government aircraft out of the sky. The IS group did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.
Ehud Ya'ari of Israel's Channel 2 said that only one of the Iranian missiles actually managed to reach its intended target in Syria.
The strikes were retaliation for the ISIS-claimed suicide bomb and gun attacks in Tehran on the country's parliament and shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomenei that left 18 dead on June 7.
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He said he hoped "terrorists and their worldwide and regional sponsors have properly received this clear message that their despicable efforts to destabilize a country which enjoys the highest level of security in the region will be met with serious and crushing responses".
Earlier, Syrian forces attacked coalition fighters in Ja'Din, wounding a number of fighters and driving them from the town.
Sunday's missile strike came amid recent confrontations in Syria between USA -backed forces and pro-government factions. USA officials have claimed that some of these missiles have been given to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are now fighting a coalition of Arab forces, some of whom are US allies.
Meanwhile, the USA on Sunday shot down a Syrian aircraft for the first time, marking a new escalation of the conflict as Russian Federation warned it would consider any us -led coalition planes in Syria west of the Euphrates River to be targets.
That puts the missile in range of the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command in Qatar, American bases in the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
Sunday's strike came amid rising tensions between Riyadh and Tehran.
Lawmakers in Iran have said that these firings are more than just a warning to terrorists - they are also an indication of Iran's dismissal of US Congress initiatives to tackle issues with Iran.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot also downplayed the significance of the Iranian strike.
The Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, which revealed new information about the programme's hidden facilities, including on linked to the banned nuclear programme, and addressed the need for further sanctions.
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