Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander within the IRGC, amongst at the least 5 killed, Iranian state media stories.
A number of folks have been killed in an Israeli air strike that flattened the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, in keeping with Iranian state media and Syrian authorities.
Brigadier Common Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander within the elite Quds Drive of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was amongst at the least 5 folks killed within the assault, Iranian media reported.
Reporters on the scene in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, the place the consulate is situated, noticed smoke rising from rubble, and emergency autos parked outdoors. An Iranian flag hung from a pole in entrance of the particles and the Syrian and Iranian overseas ministers have been each noticed on the scene.
Syrian International Minister Faisal Mekdad denounced the “terrorist assault”.
“We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist assault that focused the Iranian consulate constructing in Damascus killing a variety of harmless folks,” Mekdad stated in an announcement cited by Syrian state information company SANA.
When requested concerning the assault, an Israeli army spokesperson informed journalists: “We don’t touch upon stories within the overseas media.”
Iran’s Ambassador Hossein Akbari who was not injured, stated at the least 5 folks had been killed within the assault and that Tehran’s response could be “harsh”.
Because the Palestinian group Hamas led an assault on Israel on October 7, Israel has ramped up air strikes in Syria towards Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia and Iran’s IRGC, each of which help the federal government of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.
This blast in Damascus comes simply days after Israeli air strikes killed dozens of individuals in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.
Ali Vaez, director of the Worldwide Disaster Group’s Iran Mission, says Israel’s alleged assault on Iran’s consulate in Syria is “akin to focusing on one other nation by itself soil”.
“General this appears to nonetheless be a low-simmer regional warfare. It’s not but an all-out regional battle, however it does seem that Israel is making an attempt to do all the pieces in its energy to broaden the battle,” Vaez informed Al Jazeera.
“[This] places Israel in a win-win state of affairs as a result of Israel is aware of Iran doesn’t need to get dragged right into a regional warfare, so if it escalates its assaults towards Iranian property and personnel in Syria, it in all probability might be price free, and if Iran does reply and retaliate, then it turns into a justified pretext for increasing the warfare.”