ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) on Monday announced that seven of its members, including two senior commanders, were killed in an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes hit the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus. The Iranian media said Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the IRGC's Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, was killed in the attack.
The IRGC Quds later confirmed Zahedi's death, adding that six other members of the force were killed as well, including Brigadier General Mohammed Hadi Haji Rahimi.
Other killed members were Hussein Amanollahi, Sayyed Mahdi Jalalati, Muhsin Sadaqat, Ali Agha Babayi and Sayyed Ali Salihi Rozhbahani, according to a statement by the Iranian force.
The Syrian defence ministry said in a statement that the attack was launched from the Golan Heights, highlighting that casualties were reported.
Iranian Ambassador to Damascus Hossein Akbari told reporters that the attack was carried out by F-35 fighter jets, adding that between five to seven people were killed in the strikes. "Iran's response to Israel will be harsh," he threatened.
Israel, which has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its nearly 13-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah that supports the Syrian army, has not commented on either Sunday's or Monday's attack.
While it rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran gaining a foothold there.
