Two high-ranking Iranian military advisers along with three others were killed in a strike launched by Israel on the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday (Jan 20), according to Iranian media reports.
“Two high-ranking Iranian advisers were martyred in today’s attack by the Zionist regime (Israel) in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus,” Iran’s Mehr news agency said, quoting an informed but unnamed source.
The attack claimed the life of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence chief for Syria, his deputy as well as two other Guards members on Saturday, reported Iranian media.
“The Revolutionary Guards’ Syria intel chief, his deputy and two other Guards members were martyred in the attack on Syria by Israel,” Iran’s Mehr news agency said, quoting an informed but unnamed source.
The Revolutionary Guards also released a statement saying that four of its members were left dead in the strike on the Syrian capital further condemning Israel for the attack.
As per the official Syrian news agency SANA, a residential building was targeted in the strike which was situated in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus.
However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that the Israeli strike hit a four-storey building where “Iran-aligned leaders” were holding a meeting.
“An Israeli missile strike targeted a four-storey building, killing five people… and destroying the whole building where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organisation that relies on a network of sources on the ground.
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Israeli air strike in Syria kills senior Iranian general
Earlier in the month of December, an Israeli air strike killed a senior Iranian general in Syria, said the military.
Razi Moussavi from the Quds Force was the most senior commander of the Guards’ foreign operations arm to be killed outside of Iran after a strike launched by the United States on Bagdad on January 3, 2020, killed the Force’s commander, Qasem Soleimani.
During the civil war in Syria, which has now been going on for a decade, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on the conflict-torn country majorly targeting Iran-backed forces as well as Syrian army positions.
However, there has been an upsurge in the number of strikes in Syria ever since the war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
(With inputs from agencies)
