Iran held a funeral on Thursday for a high-ranking general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria.

Hundreds of mourners accompanied the flag-draped casket of General Razi Mousavi from a central square of Tehran to a shrine in the north of the city where he was buried.

The head of the Guard, General Hossein Salami, praised Mousavi and vowed his death would be avenged.

“We will never keep silent in the face of martyrdom of the sons of this nation,” Salami said. “Our revenge will be tough as always, but a revenge that could compensate for the martyrdom of Seyed Razi is nothing but the removal of Israel from the face of existence.” Iran does not recognise Israel and occasionally calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.