Published April 2, 2024
The airstrike destroyed the consulate building in the capital Damascus, killing at least seven officials including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and senior commander Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
Zahedi, a former commander of the IRGC’s ground forces, air force, and the deputy commander of its operations, is the most high-profile Iranian target killed since then-US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of IRGC Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.
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SOURCE: www.cnn.com
RELATED: Iran accuses Israel of killing generals in Syria strike
Iranian consulate in Syria destroyed following deadly air strike.
Published April 1, 2024
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say seven officers have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate building in Syria’s capital, Damascus.
Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the elite Quds Force, and Brig-Gen Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, his deputy, were named among the dead.
Iran and Syria’s governments condemned the attack, which destroyed a building next door to the Iranian embassy.
The Israeli military said it did not comment on foreign media reports.
However, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes in recent years on targets in Syria that it says are linked to Iran and allied armed groups which are armed, funded and trained by the Revolutionary Guards.
The Israeli strikes have reportedly been stepped up since the start of the war in Gaza in October last year, in response to cross-border attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and Syria.
But Monday’s attack will be seen as a serious escalation.
The Israelis appear to be testing the resolve of the Iranians and their allies and signalling that they are serious about increasing pressure on their enemies.
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SOURCE: www.bbc.com
RELATED: Iran’s top commander in Syria killed in airstrike; Tehran blames Israel, vows revenge
Strike levels building in Iran embassy compound, killing IRGC’s Mohammad Reza Zahedi; deputy also reported killed; citing Israeli officials, NY Times says Jerusalem behind attack
Published April 2, 2024
Iran accused Israel Monday of carrying out an airstrike on a building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus that killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the top Iranian commander in Syria.
The strike in the Damascus-area municipality of Mezzeh hit a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy, footage showed.
Though Israel has not commented on the strike, The New York Times cited four unnamed Israeli officials as confirming the country was behind the attack.
A Reuters report said a building in the embassy compound was “flattened,” in what it said was “a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies.” Iran’s SSN news website said the targeted building was Iran’s consulate and ambassador’s residence.
