Emergency staff work at a constructing destroyed by an airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian embassy consulate in Damascus, killing and injuring everybody inside, Syrian state media reported on Monday. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An Israeli airstrike that destroyed the Iranian consulate in Syria on Monday killed two Iranian generals and 5 officers, Syrian and Iranian officers stated. The assault seems to mark an escalation in Israel’s concentrating on of Iranian army personnel who present funding and weapons to Hamas and different extremists chargeable for the October 7 assault on Israel. .
Clashes between Israel and one other Iranian-backed militant group, Hezbollah, have additionally elevated alongside Israel’s northern border with Lebanon for the reason that struggle in Gaza started nearly six months in the past.
Israel, which not often acknowledges such assaults, stated it might not touch upon latest assaults in Syria, however a army spokesman blamed Iran for a drone assault on a naval base in southern Israel early Monday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards stated an airstrike in Syria killed General Ali Reza Zahadi, who led the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria till 2016. Also killed have been Mr Zafdi’s deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, and 5 different officers.
Hezbollah member Hussein Yousef was additionally killed within the assault, a spokesman for the militant group instructed The Associated Press. The spokesperson spoke on situation of anonymity in keeping with the group’s guidelines. Hezbollah introduced the dying.
Two cops guarding the consulate have been among the many injured, and first responders continued to seek for our bodies beneath the rubble.
The Iranian consulate was destroyed within the assault, however the primary embassy constructing remained intact, Syria’s state information company stated. Still, the Iranian ambassador’s residence was contained in the consulate.
Iranian Ambassador Hossein Akbari vowed to avenge the assault “with the identical scale and severity.”
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, one other Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group, accused Israel of making an attempt to escalate the battle within the Gaza Strip.
Experts stated there was little doubt that Iran would retaliate. Charles Lister, a Syria knowledgeable on the Middle East Institute in Washington, stated on social media platform X that the Syrian assault was a “severe escalation.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Qanani referred to as on different international locations to sentence the assault.
Israel has carried out lots of of assaults in opposition to targets in government-held areas of Syria lately.
Such airstrikes have intensified for the reason that struggle between Israel and Hamas started.
Israel has not often acknowledged its actions in Syria, but it surely has focused bases of extremist teams allied to Iran, together with Hezbollah, which has despatched hundreds of fighters to assist Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. It states that it’s doing so.
In December, an Israeli airstrike close to Damascus killed Seyed Raji Mousavi, a longtime adviser to the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards in Syria.
At least 5 Iranian advisers have been killed in an analogous assault on a constructing in Damascus in January. Last week, an Iranian adviser was killed in an airstrike in Deir el-Zour province, a strategic space in jap Syria close to the Iraqi border.
Israeli army chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari stated nobody was injured within the drone assault on a naval base in southern Israel “on the course of Iran.” The army stated harm was minor.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.