Islamist group claims ambush on Russian, Iranian convoy in Damascus

A Syrian Islamist group has claimed targeting high-ranking Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah officials and generals while on their way to meet embattled President Bashar al-Assad in the capital Damascus.

In a video posted on YouTube Friday, Ansar al-Islam’s spokesman, Abu Mu'adh said his group ambushed a convoy carrying a high-ranking Iranian official, Russian and Hezbollah commanders headed to a meeting with the criminal Bashar al-Assad.

Abu Mu'adh added that the ambush was “carried out after sophisticated planning and buying of information from Assad’s generals.”

Iranian Ambassador to Syria Mohammad Reza Shebani, however, denied the allegations by the group.

The official Iranian news agency quoted Shebani as saying in a televised interview that “these rumors come as a reaction to what the Islamic republic achieved in releasing detained Iranians in Syria.”

Activists said that Syrian authorities postponed releasing the second batch of Syrian detainees.

According to a Syrian source, the move, which came after more than 1,000 detainees were released a day earlier, was postponed due to the bad weather conditions.

Meanwhile, activists voiced fear over the fate of a Red Crescent medic detained in Syrian jails, Mohammad Raed al-Taweel, after released detainees said his situation in prison has worsened due to torture.