Israel accused of killing Iranian generals in Syria
The Revolutionary Guards of Iran report that seven officers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate premises in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Among the casualties were Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a high-ranking commander of the elite Quds Force, and Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, his deputy.
Both the Iranian and Syrian governments condemned the attack, which resulted in the destruction of a neighboring building to the Iranian embassy.
While the Israeli military declined to comment on reports from foreign media, it has admitted to conducting numerous strikes in Syria over the past years, targeting sites allegedly associated with Iran and its affiliated armed factions, which receive support from the Revolutionary Guards.
These strikes have reportedly intensified since the onset of the conflict in Gaza last October, following cross-border assaults on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon and Syria.
The attack on Monday signifies a significant escalation, indicating Israeli efforts to test the determination of Iran and its allies while signaling a heightened commitment to exert pressure on their adversaries.
Israeli strategists are observing the responses of Iran and Hezbollah, noting that both entities have not been as assertive as anticipated. This latest strike aims to gauge their reactions and assess their readiness to retaliate.
While retaliation is expected, it might not manifest in conventional missile strikes but could take the form of a cyber-attack or another unconventional method.
According to Syria’s defense ministry, Israeli aircraft targeted the Iranian consulate building, located in the western Mezzeh district of Damascus along a highway, allegedly originating from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, around 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Monday.
Syrian air defences shot down some of the missiles they launched, but others made it through and “destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside”, the ministry added.
The ministry said work was under way to recover the bodies and rescue the wounded from beneath the rubble, without saying how many casualties there were or naming any of them.
Photos and videos from the scene showed smoke and dust rising from the remains of the collapsed multi-storey building. The Iranian embassy next door did not appear to have sustained any significant damage.
The Iranian ambassador, Hossein Akbari, said Israeli F-35 fighter jets “brutally targeted my place of residence and the consular section of the embassy, along with Iran’s military attaches”. He told Iranian state TV that between five and seven people were killed, including some diplomats.
Later, the Revolutionary Guards put out a statement saying that seven of its officers were killed, including Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Brig-Gen Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, whom it described as commanders and “senior military advisers”.
Iranian media said Zahedi, 63, was a senior figure in the Quds Force – the Revolutionary Guards’ overseas operations arm – and served as commander in Lebanon and Syria between 2008 and 2016. Haji-Rahimi was meanwhile identified as Zahedi’s deputy.
Zahedi is one of the most high-profile Iranian figures believed to have been killed by Israel in the country’s long campaign of targeted assassinations.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources on the ground in Syria, reported that eight people were killed – a high-ranking leader of the Quds Force, two Iranian advisers and five members of the Revolutionary Guards.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said he strongly condemned what he called “this heinous terrorist attack”, adding that it had killed “a number of innocent people”.
In a telephone conversation with Mr Mekdad, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian described the strike as “a violation of all international obligations and conventions” and “blamed the consequences of this action on the Zionist regime”, the Iranian foreign ministry said.
He also “stressed the need for a serious response by the international community”.
A White House spokeswoman said US President Joe Biden was aware of the reports.
In a briefing to journalists on Monday, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said an apparent drone attack on a naval base in the southern Israeli city of Eilat was “a very serious incident”. The drone was “made and directed by Iran”, he said.
This attack followed suspected Israeli strikes on Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo last Friday, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed 53 people, including 38 Syrian soldiers and seven members of the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
In January, another strike in Mezzeh that was blamed on Israel killed five senior Revolutionary Guards and several Syrian security personnel.
Israel has previously acknowledged carrying out strikes in Syria to combat what it calls Iran’s “military entrenchment”, as well as shipments of Iranian weapons to allied groups which it proscribes as terrorist organisations.
Iran has said Revolutionary Guards have been sent to Syria to “advise” President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the country’s civil war, but it has denied they have been involved in combat or established bases.
