Israeli warplanes struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, and a Lebanese security source told Reuters a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, had been killed in the attack.
Reuters reporters at the scene in the Mezzeh district of the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from rubble of a building that had been flattened, and emergency vehicles parked outside.
An Israeli military spokesperson said: “We do not comment on reports in the foreign media.”
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A war monitoring group said eight people killed after Israeli strikes on Monday hit an Iranian embassy annex building in Syria’s capital.
“Israeli missiles… destroyed the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy… in Damascus, killing eight people,” said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian state television confirmed the consulate building had been attacked. Earlier, Iranian media reported that a building close to the embassy had been hit, and Iran’s student news agency reported that the target was the consulate and ambassador’s residence.
Syria’s official news agency SANA said “the Israeli attack targeted the Iranian consulate building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus”.
AFP correspondents at the site confirmed the building next to the embassy, an annex, had been levelled, in an upscale neighbourhood of Damascus.
Iranian media also reported that the strikes in Damascus completely destroyed the annex building, and that the ambassador was unharmed.
“Hossein Akbari, ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, and his family were not harmed in the Israeli attack,” Iran’s Nour news agency said.
Two AFP correspondents at the site confirmed the building next to the embassy, had been razed to the ground by the strike.
The incident came days after the Observatory reported Israeli strikes that killed 53 people in Syria, including 38 soldiers and seven members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
It was the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, said the monitor.