Conflicts & War

Israeli strike kills several Iranian Revolutionary Guard members in Damascus

Cairo, Jan 20 (EFE).- At least 10 people were killed on Saturday after a suspected Israeli missile strike on an apartment building in Damascus.

Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were among the fatalities “as a result of the Israeli targeted strike”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

“The dead are: five Iranians, including three leaders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, three Syrians contracted with Iranian militias, and two others, one of whom is Iraqi and the other of Lebanese nationality,” the UK-based NGO reported.

People were still missing after the four-story building in the Mezze neighborhood in western Damascus collapsed, the report added.

In a statement, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard confirmed that at least four of its members were killed in the attack, which they also accused Israel of perpetrating. Israel has not yet commented on the incident.

The official Syrian news agency SANA reported that “several civilians” were killed and wounded, without giving further details.

“At around 10:20 am on Saturday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a residential building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in the capital Damascus, and the air defense forces responded to the aggression missiles and shot down some of them,” a military source told SANA.

The targeted building is located within a security zone in the Mezze neighborhood and is one of several buildings in the area that belong to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to the SOHR, which added that the neighborhood is also home to leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and Lebanese Hezbollah.

Iran is a key ally of Damascus in the war in Syria, where Tehran has sent soldiers and military advisers, in addition to providing economic and political support to its main ally in the Middle East.

In a statement on Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry said that it has the “right to respond” to Israel for the attack in Syria “at an appropriate time and place”. EFE

sr-ijm/ks

Related Articles

Back to top button