Damascus: Amid the Israel-Hamas war, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Syria on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders, and that marked a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.

“We strongly condemn this atrocious terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed a number of innocents,” said Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad who was seen at the site along with Syria’s interior minister. Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the strike hit a consular building in the embassy compound and that his residence was on the top two floors.

Top commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi killed in Israeli attack

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm. Hezbollah offered condolences to Iran for Zahedi’s death and called Israel “foolish when it believes that liquidating the leaders can stop the roaring tide of the people’s resistance.” It added in its statement that the killing “will not pass without the enemy receiving punishment and revenge.”

Israel has long targeted Iran’s military installations in Syria and those of its proxies, but Monday’s attack was the first time Israel hit the vast embassy compound itself. It has ramped up those strikes in parallel with its campaign against the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, which ignited the Gaza war. Israel’s military has escalated airstrikes in Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, both of which support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Why did Israel attack Syria?

Israel typically does not discuss attacks by its forces on Syria. Asked about the strike, an Israeli military spokesperson said: “We do not comment on reports in the foreign media”. The New York Times cited four unnamed Israeli officials as acknowledging Israel had carried out the attack.

An Israeli airstrike in a Damascus neighbourhood in December killed a longtime Iranian Revolutionary Guard adviser to Syria, Seyed Razi Mousavi. A similar strike on a building in Damascus in January killed at least five Iranian advisers. Last week, an Iranian adviser was killed in airstrikes over the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, near the Iraqi border. The chief spokesman for Israel’s army, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said a Monday drone attack on a naval base in southern Israel was “directed by Iran” and caused no injuries.

Early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said some kind of weapon fired from Syria toward Israel crashed before reaching its intended target.

(With inputs from agencies)

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