A number of killed in Israeli strike on Iranian consulate in Damascus: Stories | Israel Conflict on Gaza Information

Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander within the IRGC, amongst no less than 5 killed, Iranian state media reviews.

A number of individuals have been killed in an Israeli air strike that flattened the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, in line with Iranian state media and Syrian authorities.

Brigadier Basic Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander within the elite Quds Pressure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was amongst no less than 5 individuals killed within the assault, Iranian media reported.

Reporters on the scene in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, the place the consulate is positioned, noticed smoke rising from rubble, and emergency automobiles parked exterior. An Iranian flag hung from a pole in entrance of the particles and the Syrian and Iranian overseas ministers had been each noticed on the scene.

Syrian Overseas Minister Faisal Mekdad denounced the “terrorist assault”.

“We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist assault that focused the Iranian consulate constructing in Damascus killing various harmless individuals,” Mekdad stated in a press release cited by Syrian state information company SANA.

When requested concerning the assault, an Israeli navy spokesperson instructed journalists: “We don’t touch upon reviews within the overseas media.”

Iran’s Ambassador Hossein Akbari who was not injured, stated no less than 5 individuals had been killed within the assault and that Tehran’s response could be “harsh”.

For the reason that Palestinian group Hamas led an assault on Israel on October 7, Israel has ramped up air strikes in Syria towards Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia and Iran’s IRGC, each of which help the federal government of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

This blast in Damascus comes simply days after Israeli air strikes killed dozens of individuals in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.

Ali Vaez, director of the Worldwide Disaster Group’s Iran Venture, says Israel’s alleged assault on Iran’s consulate in Syria is “akin to concentrating on one other nation by itself soil”.

“General this appears to nonetheless be a low-simmer regional struggle. It’s not but an all-out regional battle, but it surely does seem that Israel is attempting to do all the pieces in its energy to broaden the battle,” Vaez instructed Al Jazeera.

“[This] places Israel in a win-win scenario as a result of Israel is aware of Iran doesn’t wish to get dragged right into a regional struggle, so if it escalates its assaults towards Iranian belongings and personnel in Syria, it most likely will likely be price free, and if Iran does reply and retaliate, then it turns into a justified pretext for increasing the struggle.”