2024-04-02 03:49:56
In an unprecedented airstrike that raises tensions between Israel and Iran, the Israeli military destroyed the consulate and the residence of the Iranian ambassador in the Syrian capital, Damascus, leaving at least eight dead, including the top commander of the Iranian Army Corps. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
The attack devastated the building next to the Iranian embassy in a wealthy neighborhood of Damascus, according to an AFP correspondent present at the scene. Meanwhile at the scene, emergency services are searching for victims under the rubble.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a UK-based NGO with an extensive network of informants on the ground in Syria, said at least eight people were killed in the bombing, including several Guardians of the Revolution.
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Iranian state television reported that among the fatalities was Brigadier General Mohamad Reza Zahedi, 63, one of the senior commanders of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guards.
In addition to the death of a high-level leader, the OSDH confirmed the demotion of two Iranian advisors, and five members of Iran’s “Guardians of the Revolution.”
It should be noted that previously, the official Syrian news agency SANA had previously reported that Syrian air defense systems “engaged enemy targets around Damascus.”
After the attack, the Islamic Republic promised to respond “decisively,” according to the Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, who was unharmed and specified that the attack was carried out with “F-35 fighter jets and six missiles.”
Furthermore, Akbari stated that “the Israeli attack against the Iranian consulate shows the reality of the Zionist entity, which does not recognize any international law and does everything inhumane to achieve its objectives.”
Meanwhile, Israel remains silent, since since the beginning of its war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas it has intensified attacks against other groups linked to this Palestinian movement and like it supported by Iran.
The repercussions
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad “strongly condemned this atrocious terrorist attack”, which caused numerous deaths and injuries.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian blamed the attack on Israel and called for a “serious response from the international community,” according to a ministry statement.
This Monday’s bombing occurred three days after the OSDH reported Israeli attacks in Syria where 53 people died, including 38 Syrian soldiers and seven Hezbollah militiamen, a Lebanese movement that is allied with the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad. of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Iran, all of them enemies of Israel. It was the highest number of casualties suffered by the Syrian army in Israeli attacks since the war between Israel and Hamas began in Gaza, the NGO said.
The death of Zahedi, a senior military leader, may be seen as a serious blow to Tehran and its influence in Syria.