Iran claimed that an Israeli airstrike destroyed Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, killing several people, including a senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
According to Iranian state television, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the Quds Force, a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in the attack.
Iranian state television said several Iranian diplomats were killed but the ambassador was believed to have survived.
The apparent airstrike on the consulate will heighten fears of a further escalation of violence in the region, which has been teetering on a knife’s edge since the war in Gaza began.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria said five to seven people had been killed and warned that Iran’s response to the attack would be “harsh.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight people were killed, including a senior Quds Force leader, two Iranian advisers and five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Photos from the scene appeared to show the consulate in Damascus being completely destroyed, in what Iran called an “assassination attempt.”
The Syrian Defense Ministry stated that at around 5 pm local time, Israeli aircraft fired several missiles from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights and targeted the consulate. The Defense Ministry said the air defense system shot down some of the missiles, but other missiles that were not intercepted “destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdullahian called the attack a “violation of all international conventions” and said Tehran held Israel responsible for its consequences, state media reported.
Smoke and dust rose from the building next to the Iranian embassy on a main road in the city’s Meze district.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Iranian Ambassador to Damascus Hussein Akbari were filmed inspecting the site of the destroyed building.
Mr Akbari condemned Israel, adding that emergency workers were still searching for bodies under the rubble.
He added that two police officers guarding the building were injured during the strike.
Since launching war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza on October 7, Israel has repeatedly targeted Iranian interests in the region, including Lebanese Hezbollah and various militias in Syria and Iraq.
Asked about the Damascus attack, an Israeli military spokesman said: “We do not comment on foreign media reports.”
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden was aware of reports of an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate and that “the team is looking into it.”
Iranian state television said the residence of the Iranian ambassador is located in the consulate next to the embassy.
This story is being updated
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