Emergency services work at a destroyed building hit by an air strike in Damascus, Syria, on April 1, 2024. Omar Sanadiki/AP
Published April 3, 2024
Seven Iranian officials including two elite military commanders were killed in an airstrike on an Iranian embassy complex in Damascus on Monday that was widely believed to be Israel’s doing.
Experts say the attack is the biggest of its kind on Iranian targets since then-US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander, in Baghdad in 2020. Iran may now be compelled to respond despite its unwillingness to enter war with Israel and the United States.
Israel has been attacking Iranian and Iranian-allied interests in Syria for years as part of its “campaign between wars” strategy to deter and destroy emerging threats to its security. And it has increased such attacks since October 7, when Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250, prompting a devastating Israeli war in Gaza.
But Monday’s attack was a major escalation, experts say, as it targeted an embassy compound and killed a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Iran considers it an attack on its sovereignty territory as per international law.
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SOURCE: www.cnn.com
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An excavator clears rubble after a suspected Israeli strike on Monday on Iran’s consulate, adjacent to the main Iranian embassy building, which Iran said had killed seven military personnel including two key figures in the Quds Force, in the… Purchase Licensing Rights
Published April 3, 2024
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SOURCE: www.reuters.com
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visits the military equipment of IRGC Navy in Bandar Abbas, Iran, February 2, 2024. (photo credit: IRAN’S PRESIDENCY/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Published April 2, 2024
Israeli expert: ‘Iran does not want direct confrontation with the US or with Israel that would involve the US…That could change.’
First of all, according to the reports from Syria and Iran, the Israeli Air Force allegedly attacked a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, where several senior Iranian officials were located, among them Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who is actually the deputy commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria and Lebanon,” Simantov began.
