1 April 2024,
By Christian Oliver
An Israeli airstrike has destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least six including a senior military commander, Syrian state media said Monday.
The strike killed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards commander Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, according to Iran state media.
Zahdi previously led the Iranian elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.
There was no official confirmation from Iran.
Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad told the media after meeting Iran's ambassador, Hossein Akbari, that "several" people were killed, without offering further information.
Iranian state television said the Iranian ambassador's residence was in the consular building, which stood next to the embassy.
State news agency Sana, citing an unnamed military source, said the building in the tightly guarded neighbourhood of Mazzeh, was levelled. Emergency crews were searching for bodies under the rubble.
The Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike killed at least six people. The Israeli military did not comment. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years.
Such airstrikes have escalated in recent months against the backdrop of Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and ongoing clashes between Israel's military and Hezbollah on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Though it rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, Israel has said it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups such as Lebanon's
Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.
It comes after the IDF said it had withdrawn from the main hospital in Gaza after two weeks, with Palestine residents saying it has been left in "total destruction".
Israel said that its troops had left the al-Shifa hospital after a raid to kill Palestinian militants, and seize weapons and intelligence documents.
The IDF added that it had carried out its operations "while preventing harm to civilians, patients and medical teams".
Hundreds of people came back to the hospital and the surrounding area after the withdrawal early on Monday.
A resident who had come back to the area said Israeli troops had left "total destruction" when they departed.
Another resident, Yahia Abu Auf, said there were still patients, medical workers and displaced people sheltering inside the medical compound.
He said several patients had been taken to the nearby Ahli Hospital, and that army bulldozers had ploughed over a makeshift cemetery inside the hospital compound.
"The situation is indescribable," he said.
"The occupation destroyed all sense of life here."Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided several medical facilities.
Syria condemns 'Israeli aggression' on Iran’s consulate in Damascus
5 to 7 people killed in attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, according to Iranian ambassador to Syria
Ahmed Asmar |01.04.2024 -
ANKARA
Syria condemned what it described as a "fascist Israeli aggression" targeting the Iranian Consulate in the capital Damascus on Monday.
Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, reiterated Syria's support to Iran following the attack, the state news agency SANA reported.
“Syria stands by Iran against assaults that reflect Israel’s state of hysteria as a result of its miserable failure in its war against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” said Mekdad, according to SANA.
Amir Abdollahian, for his part, underlined the position of both Iran and Syria “in standing together in the face of the Israeli brutality that crossed all limits".
Early Monday, General Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the IRGC's Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, was killed in a strike that destroyed the Iranian consulate building next to the Iranian Embassy, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
General Zahedi was a veteran IRGC commander who previously commanded the IRGC's ground force and air force and also served as the deputy commander of the IRGC's military operations.
There are also unconfirmed reports about the killing of General Rahimi, who served as General Zahedi's deputy, and Gen. Hossein Amirullah, head of the IRGC general staff in Syria and Lebanon.
The missile strike reportedly targeted a building that served as the Iranian Embassy's consular affairs department as well as the residence of the Iranian ambassador.
Iranian Ambassador in Damascus Hossein Akbari said the building was attacked with F-35 warplanes and six missiles, killing several Iranian military undersecretaries. He put the death toll from the attack at between five to seven people.
Akbari said the attack is against all international conventions and will see a "decisive response."
The attack came amid heightened tensions in the region in the wake of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 32,800 Palestinians and spawned the worst humanitarian crisis.
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