An Israeli missile strike on the Syrian capital of Damascus on Saturday killed several members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – including the head of the elite force’s information unit, according to reports.
The attack was followed hours later by a separate attack in Lebanon against targets linked to Hezbollah.
In the first attack, a heavily guarded building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus was completely destroyed, according to the Syrian army.
The Israeli Air Force fired a missile while flying over the occupied Golan Heights, the military said.
Later on Saturday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced that the attack killed five members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
“The Islamic Republic will not let the crimes of the Zionist regime go unanswered,” Raisi said in a statement condemning the strike, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
The comments appeared to confirm an earlier statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – an opposition war monitor – which claimed at least six people, including five Iranians and a Syrian civilian, were killed in the attack.
There were also four people missing under the rubble of the four-story structure, the organization said.
Three of the Iranians killed were commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Observatory.
People and rescuers gather in front of a building destroyed in a reported Israeli attack in Damascus. AFP via Getty Images
A grocer near the scene said he heard five explosions around 10:15am local time – and later saw the bodies of a man and a woman being carried away, along with three people who appeared to be injured.
“The shop was shaking. I stayed for a few seconds then came out and saw smoke billowing from behind the mosque,” said the man, who asked that his name not be used for security reasons.
Israel has not commented on the strike.
Smoke is visible in Lebanon from over Israel’s northern border. AFP via Getty Images
Tehran will respond “at the appropriate time and place,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.
Kanani also slammed the strike as an “increase in aggressive and provocative attacks” by Israel.
Hours after the Damascus blast, an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese port city of Tire killing two Hezbollah members.
Two people in a nearby garden were also killed in the blast, according to the state news agency.
Israeli forces operated in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. via REUTERS
One of the dead was Ali Hudruj, a local Hezbollah leader, an official said.
Israel – which has been grappling with threats from Iran-backed Hezbollah while fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip – is working to secure a deal with the terror group by the end of January aimed at avoiding drawing Lebanon into war, a US official told the Washington Post.
The two attacks came amid heightened tensions over Israeli counterattacks in the Gaza Strip and escalating fighting in the region.
Displaced Palestinian children walk on a hill facing their makeshift camp in Rafah. AFP via Getty Images
The Gaza campaign is believed to have killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-linked health authorities, which do not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
The months-long effort has also displaced some 2.3 million people from their homes.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
