By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and ALBERT AJI (Associated Press)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An Israeli airstrike has demolished the consular section of Iran’s embassy in Syria, leading to the death of a senior Iranian military adviser and around a few other individuals, as stated by Syrian state media on Monday.
The attack on the Iranian consulate building could signify an escalation of the Israeli military’s ongoing targeting of Iranian military officials and allies in Syria, which have become more intense since the start of its conflict with Hamas in Gaza on Oct.7.
Israel, which seldom confirms such attacks, stated that it had no comment regarding the reports from Syrian media.
The Iranian Arabic-language state television Al-Alam and pan-Arab television station Al-Mayadeen, which has correspondents in Syria, said the attack resulted in the death of Iranian military adviser Gen. Ali Reza Zahdi, who led the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.
Iranian Ambassador Hossein Akbari denounced Israel and mentioned that as many as seven people were killed, but emergency responders were still searching for any other bodies under the debris. He also stated that two police officers who guard the building were injured.
Akbari pledged retaliation for the attack “at the same level of severity.”
In statements to the media following his meeting with Akbari, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad stated that “several” people had been killed. Mekdad, in a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, condemned Israel for the assault.
Iranian state television disclosed that the Iranian ambassador’s residence was situated in the consular building, which was adjacent to the embassy.
State news agency SANA, referring to an unnamed military source, revealed that the building in the highly secured neighborhood of Mazzeh was destroyed.
Israel has conducted numerous strikes on targets in government-controlled areas of Syria in recent times.
These air raids have intensified in the past months amid Israel’s conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and ongoing clashes between Israel’s military and Hezbollah on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Even though it rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, Israel has declared that it targets the bases of Iran-aligned militant groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has dispatched thousands of fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
An Israeli airstrike in a neighborhood in Damascus in December claimed the life of a longtime adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria, Seyed Razi Mousavi. A similar strike on a building in Damascus in January resulted in the death of at least five Iranian advisers. Last week, airstrikes in the strategic eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour near the Iraqi border led to the death of an Iranian adviser.
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