According to Iranian officials, an Israeli airstrike on Monday destroyed Iran's consulate in Syria's capital, Damascus and resulted in the deaths of two Iranian generals and five officers.
This attack suggests a heightened level of Israel's targeting of Iranian military personnel, who provide support to militant groups engaged in conflict with Israel in Gaza and along its border with Lebanon.
Clashes between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon have increased since the Gaza war began six months ago.
Israel, known for rarely acknowledging strikes on Iranian targets, refrained from commenting on the recent attack in Syria. However, a military spokesperson attributed a drone attack early Monday against a naval base in southern Israel to Iran.
The airstrike in Syria resulted in the death of Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who commanded the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016, as confirmed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Additionally, Zahedi’s deputy, Gen Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, and five other officers were also killed in the attack.
A member of Hezbollah, Hussein Youssef, also was killed in the attack, an official with the militant group told The Associated Press.
Hezbollah offered condolences to Iran for Zahedi’s death and called Israel “foolish when it believes that liquidating the leaders can stop the roaring tide of the people’s resistance.” It added in its statement that the killing “will not pass without the enemy receiving punishment and revenge.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organisation, two Syrians were also among those killed. Additionally, two police officers who were stationed to guard the consulate were wounded while first responders continued to search for bodies beneath the rubble.
Experts said there was no doubt that Iran would retaliate. The strike in Syria was a “major escalation,” Charles Lister, a Syria expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said on the social media platform X.
A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Nasser Kanaani, called on other countries to condemn the strike.
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