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Iran on Saturday accused Israel of a strike in Damascus that killed 5 Revolutionary Guards members, and vowed to avenge the most recent assault on the Islamic republic’s personnel overseas.
President Ebrahim Raisi stated Tehran wouldn’t let the “cowardly assassination” go unanswered.
Israel has been accused of intensifying strikes focusing on senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon — backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas — elevating fears that preventing within the Gaza Strip might unfold additional.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it misplaced 5 members within the strike that it blamed on Israel, its regional arch-foe.
Hamas, which is backed by Tehran, additionally condemned what it known as a “heinous crime”.
In an announcement, Raisi condemned “this cowardly assault”.
“There isn’t any doubt that persevering with such terrorist and legal acts is not going to stay with out a response” from Iran, he stated.
Earlier, Iran’s overseas ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani additionally blamed Israel and stated Tehran “reserves the correct to reply to organised terrorism” on the acceptable time and place.
Quoting an knowledgeable supply, Iran’s Mehr information company stated “the Revolutionary Guards’ Syria intel chief” and his deputy had been amongst these “martyred within the assault on Syria by Israel”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights battle monitor stated the Israeli strike on the Mazzeh neighbourhood of the capital killed 10 individuals.
Iranian media reported one of many useless was “Common Sadegh Omidzadeh, accountable in Syria for intelligence for the Quds Pressure”, the IRGC overseas operations arm.
There was no official affirmation of his demise.
The Guards’ Sepah information company named 4 of these killed as Hojatollah Omidvar, Ali Aghazadeh, Hossein Mohammadi and Saeed Karimi.
The mid-morning strike, which despatched a big plume of smoke skywards, was additionally reported by Syrian state media.
Official information company SANA stated a residential constructing in Mazzeh had been focused in what it known as “an Israeli aggression”.
The defence ministry stated the strike killed “plenty of civilians”.
HUNDREDS OF STRIKES
The constructing was cordoned off as rescuers searched the rubble for survivors.
“I heard the explosion clearly within the western Mazzeh space, and I noticed a big cloud of smoke,” one resident advised AFP, requesting anonymity over safety considerations.
“The sound was much like a missile explosion.”
Requested in regards to the strike, the Israeli navy advised AFP: “We don’t touch upon studies from the overseas media.”
Throughout greater than a decade of civil battle in Syria, Israel has launched tons of of air strikes, primarily focusing on Iran-backed forces in addition to Syrian military positions.
However such assaults have intensified because the battle between Israel and Hamas, which like Lebanon’s Hezbollah motion is an ally of Iran, started on October 7.
The Observatory stated the strike hit a four-storey constructing “the place Iran-aligned leaders had been assembly”.
The Britain-based battle monitor with a community of sources inside Syria stated the focused constructing belonged to the IRGC and that Mazzeh is understood to be a high-security zone the place leaders of the IRGC and pro-Iran Palestinian factions dwell.
The neighbourhood additionally homes the United Nations headquarters, embassies and eating places.
“They had been for positive focusing on senior members” of Tehran-backed teams or Iranian forces, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman advised AFP.
EXCHANGES OF FIRE
Saturday’s presumed Israeli strike was the second high-profile focused assassination in Syria in lower than a month.
In December, an air strike killed a senior Iranian normal in Syria.
Razi Moussavi was probably the most senior commander of the Quds Pressure to be killed exterior Iran since a January 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad killed IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani.
On January 2 in neighbouring Lebanon, the place the highly effective Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway, Hamas deputy Saleh al-Aruri was killed in a strike broadly blamed on Israel.
Days later, Israel killed high Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil in a strike in south Lebanon.
Because the Israel-Hamas battle started there have been common cross-border exchanges of fireside between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Saturday’s Damascus strike got here 4 days after the IRGC stated it attacked “an Israeli intelligence headquarters” in Arbil, capital of Iraq’s northern autonomous province of Kurdistan.
Iraqi authorities stated the assault killed 4 civilians and wounded six others.
Israel not often feedback on particular person strikes focusing on Syria, however has repeatedly stated it is not going to enable Iran, which backs President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities, to develop its presence there.
Since 2011, Syria has endured a bloody battle that has claimed greater than half 1,000,000 lives and displaced a number of million individuals.
