Strikes attributed to Israel destroy Iranian consulate in Syria, killing several members of the Revolutionary Guards

Strikes attributed to Israel hit on Monday 1^er April, an upscale neighborhood of Damascus, which also houses embassies and United Nations buildings, destroying the Iranian consulate in Syria. “The Israeli enemy launched airstrikes from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the Iranian consulate in Damascus”said the Syrian defense ministry. “All those inside were killed or injured”, continued the ministry. On site, an Agence France-Presse correspondent confirmed that the Iranian embassy annex building had been razed by the strike.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes, which killed eight people, according to theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). In a statement broadcast by his country’s media, Iran’s ambassador to Damascus, Hossein Akbari, said the embassy annex had been targeted by “six missiles fired by F-35 jets”. “Mr Akbari and his family were not injured during the Israeli attack”specified for his part the Iranian Nour news agency.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for this unprecedented attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria.

The raid, which completely destroyed the Iranian consulate, adjoining the embassy, ​​killed a commander of the Al-Quds Force for Syria and Lebanon, General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, as well as six other members of the Revolutionary Guards . Two “advisers” Iranians are also among those killed, according to the OSDH. Aged 63, General Zahedi had been a member of the Guards Corps for four decades and had held various senior positions, including within the Quds Force, which is considered the elite Guards unit. It intervenes outside the borders to, according to Tehran, help Iran’s neighbors and ensure “stability” of the region against Western interference. Another senior Quds Force officer, Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, was also killed, the Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement.

Iran calls for international “response”

Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, several “military advisors” Iranians have been killed in Syria, including General Sadegh Omidzadeh, head of intelligence for the Al-Quds Force in that country, according to Iranian media. At the end of December, Brigadier General Razi Mousavi, a senior commander of the Quds Force, was killed in a missile strike south of Damascus.

While condemning “Zionist terrorist aggression” having targeted the consular building, Palestinian Hamas denounced in a press release a “flagrant violation of international law” and an “dangerous escalation”.

During a call with his Syrian counterpart, the head of Iranian diplomacy, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, considered the attack “as a violation of all international obligations and conventions” and called on the international community to provide “a serious answer” to Israeli strikes. For Mr. Abdollahian, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “has completely lost his mental balance due to the successive failures of the Israeli regime in Gaza and the inability to achieve the ambitious goals of the Zionists”.

In a statement released Monday evening, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said that “the Islamic Republic of Iran” was going to “decide on the type of reaction and punishment towards the aggressor”.

In a statement, Russia condemned the bombing and accused the Israeli army of being responsible. “We strongly condemn this unacceptable attack against the Iranian consular mission in Syria”declared the Russian Foreign Ministry, assuring that any attack against a diplomatic building was “unacceptable”.