The Iranian Mehr News Agency reported that one of the dead was the head of Syrian intelligence in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. BBC Persian wrote that the rest of the dead were Syrian soldiers.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Israel of being behind the attack that targeted a residential building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus.
Iran vows revenge
The bombed building was used by Iranian advisors supporting the Syrian government, and was almost completely destroyed. The Mezzeh area in Damascus is considered a high security zone for Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Iran will retaliate for the attack against what it describes as organized terrorism from Israel.
– The response will be in the right place and at the right time, says official spokesman Nasser Al-Kanani.
The French news agency tried to obtain a comment from Israel.
We do not comment on foreign media reports. This is the response they received from the Israeli army.
Embassy area
There are many embassies in the region, in addition to a United Nations headquarters.
On Saturday, a meeting is scheduled to be held there with leaders supporting Iran, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It must have been an Israeli missile that hit the residential building in Damascus on Saturday.
Photo: Reuters
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is part of the Iranian Armed Forces and was established in 1979, as an independent force in Iran. The Revolutionary Guard reports directly to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israeli attacks
Israel has long waged a bombing campaign against Iran-linked targets in Syria and Lebanon, but the attacks have become bloodier over time.
In December, General Razi Mousavi of the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was killed by the Israeli army. This was the most senior commander killed outside Iran since a US drone killed Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020. In December, 23 pro-Iranian soldiers were killed in a likely Israeli airstrike in eastern Syria.
There have long been fears that the war in Gaza could escalate into a major war in the region.
Iran supports Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7. Then, Israel invaded Gaza and promised to crush Hamas on all fronts.
Iran also supports the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which in turn supports Hamas. There are almost daily clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
In addition, Iran supports the Houthi movement in Yemen, which has long affected shipping in the Red Sea, in protest against Israel's war against Hamas.
Iran is the United States' arch enemy in the Middle East, and plays a key role in determining whether the war between Israel and Hamas escalates to further levels.
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