Damascus
Iran: Revolutionary Guard killed in attack in Syria
Security officers on a street in Damascus. (Symbolic image) photo
© -/SANA/dpa
Tensions in the Middle East are not easing. Supporters of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard are again killed in an air strike in Damascus. The pressure on Tehran to respond is increasing.
During the air strike in the Syrian capital According to Iranian sources, several members of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) were killed in Damascus. The state broadcaster reported this on Saturday. The channel’s Arabic department reported that two senior advisers were among the dead. State television blamed Israel for the attack.
According to information from the Iranian Mehr news agency, the Iranians were officers of the IRGC intelligence service. A person responsible, his deputy and two other men are said to have died in the attack.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least five people were killed in the suspected Israeli attack. The four-story building that was attacked was completely destroyed. According to the activists, a meeting of officials loyal to Iran took place there. The Israeli military did not initially comment.
Sana: “Israeli aggression”
The Syrian state news agency Sana’s report said the attack was “the result of Israeli aggression.” Pictures on social media showed a destroyed house on the side of the road.
Israel’s air force repeatedly bombs targets in neighboring Syria. Israel wants to prevent its arch-enemy Iran and its allied militias from expanding their military influence in the country. Iran is one of Syria’s most important allies. Israeli attacks have increased since the Gaza war began in early October.
The situation in the region has been extremely tense since the Gaza war broke out as a result of the Islamist Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th, which left 1,200 dead. A few days ago, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired rockets from their own territory into Iraq, Syria and Pakistan for the first time since the start of the war in retaliation for terrorist attacks and the killing of a general in Syria.
At the end of December, Iranian General Sejed-Rasi Mousavi, a senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), was killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus.
Experts and observers believe that the world is currently experiencing a dangerous shadow conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran. Shortly after the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas on October 7th, its leadership praised the attack as an act of resistance, but vehemently rejected any direct involvement.