MAHER AL MOUNES / AFP
A raid destroyed an annex to the Iranian embassy in Damascus on Monday, killing eight people, including a commander of the Revolutionary Guards. Tehran points to the “Zionist regime and demands a “serious response from the international community”.
Israeli strikes destroyed an annex to the Iranian embassy in Damascus on Monday, state media reported. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), these strikes, which occur in an extremely tense regional context against a backdrop of war in the Gaza Strip, killed a commander of the Revolutionary Guards and five of its members .
The NGO, based in Great Britain, relies on sources in Syria to confirm “the assassination of a senior official who served as head of the Quds Force for Syria and Lebanon, two Iranian advisors and five members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards”. This commander belongs to the Quds Force, an elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for external operations.
“Decisive answer”
“Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the top commanders of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was martyred in an attack by Zionist regime fighters on the annex of the ‘Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus’the Syrian capital, Iranian state television Irib said.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria said his country will bring “a decisive answer” to the raid attributed to Israel. THE “building was attacked by F-35 fighter jets and six missiles (…) This action will result in a decisive response from us”, the diplomat told journalists. Later, the Iranian foreign minister spoke with his Syrian counterpart. During the call, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian considered the attack on an annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus “as a violation of all international obligations and conventions, blamed the consequences of this action on the Zionist regime and stressed the need for a serious response from the international community to such criminal actions”according to a press release from the ministry.
The Syrian Defense Ministry, for its part, affirmed that “the Israeli enemy launched airstrikes from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the Iranian embassy annex in Damascus”. “The attack destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside. Work is underway to recover the bodies and rescue the injured from under the rubble.added the ministry in a press release.
Syria denounces “terrorist attack”
The Iranian Nour news agency reported that “Hossein Akbari, ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, and his family were not injured in the Israeli attack”. An AFP correspondent on site confirmed that the embassy annex building had been completely destroyed by the strike. AFP photos show the building completely destroyed, reduced to a state of ruin. Not far from the scene, dozens of men gathered in front of the scene. An ambulance is on site. Iranian state media has confirmed that an Israeli strike destroyed an annex to the Iranian embassy in Syria.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad condemned a “heinous terrorist attack”. “We strongly condemn this attack” who killed “a number of innocent people”, declared the minister in a statement carried by the official Syrian press agency Sana. An AFP correspondent present at the scene indicated that the minister had gone there. “The Israeli occupation entity will not be able to impact the ties between Iran and Syria”he added.