DAMASCUS, (PIC)
An Israeli air strike has targeted Iran’s consulate building in Damascus on Monday, killing seven people and wounding multiple others.
A senior commander at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is among the victims, according to Iranian state television.
Mohammad Reza Zahedi was one of the most senior IRGC, who heads of the IRGC’s aerial forces and ground forces.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, who was not injured, told Iranian state TV that five to seven people, including some diplomats, were killed and that Tehran’s response would be “harsh”.
Iran’s IRGC said in a statement that seven military advisers died in the strike, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
Iranian state media said that Tehran believed Zahedi was the target of the attack. His deputy and another senior commander were also killed, along with four others.
Commenting on the attack, the Hamas Movement strongly condemned “the Israeli terrorist aggression that targeted the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital.”
Hamas considered the attack a blatant violation of international law, an infringement on the sovereignty of both Syria and Iran, and a dangerous Israeli escalation.
The Movement “expressed full solidarity with Iran and Syria in the face of this brutal Nazi aggression,” and called on the UN Security Council to take effective action to stop the ongoing Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip and the region.
