The consular services building connected to the Iranian embassy in Damascus was completely destroyed in the attack. Iran vows its revenge on Israel will be severe.
Israel killed the brigadier general of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force Mohammed Reza Zahedin with an airstrike in the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, according to Iranian state television.
According to Iranian state television, several Iranian diplomats were also killed in the attack.
The attack targeted the consular services building connected to the Iranian embassy in Damascus. A reporter from the news agency AFP who was on the spot said that the building was completely destroyed in the attack.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari and his family members were not injured in the attack. According to Akbar, at least five people were killed in the attack and the attack was carried out with F-35 fighters. The ambassador vowed that Iran would retaliate severely against Israel.
The news agency Reuters reports that the foreign ministers of both Syria and Iran were seen at the scene after the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Israel violated “all international agreements” with the strike.
Also the Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad condemned the attack. Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas said for his part that all the people inside the building at the time of the attack were killed or wounded.
Israel has so far not commented on the attack.
In the United States, White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre said that the president Joe Biden is aware of the attack and the White House team is looking into the matter.
Israel has stepped up its attacks on Syria since the war against the Palestinian extremist organization Hamas, which controls Gaza, began last October. The human rights organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that over the weekend Israel killed more than 50 people in Syria in an attack against the Lebanese extremist organization Hezbollah.
The news is updated.
Sources: AFP, AP, Reuters