Israeli strikes hit an Iranian consulate annex building in Syria's capital on Monday, April 1, Syrian state media said. An Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent on the scene confirmed that the annex building had been razed to the ground by the strike.
The Iranian defense ministry condemned the Israeli strikes, which killed eight people according to the UK-based war monitoring organization the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Iranian state media said a senior commander with the Quds Force – the foreign operations branch of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was among the dead: "One of the senior commanders of the IRGC's Quds Force, was martyred in an attack by Zionist regime fighters on the Islamic Republic of Iran's consulate building in Damascus," state TV reported. The SOHR also "confirmed the killing of a high-ranking leader who served as the leader of the Quds Force for Syria and Lebanon, two Iranian advisers, and five members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," in the Israeli strike on Damascus.
It was the fifth strike in eight days to hit Syria, whose President Bashar al-Assad has been widely supported by Iran and its allies.
Syria's official news agency SANA said "the Israeli attack targeted the Iranian consulate building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus," a neighborhood that also houses embassies and United Nations buildings. AFP correspondents at the scene confirmed the building next to the embassy, an annex, had been leveled, in an upscale neighborhood of Damascus. AFP images showed a pile of rubble about two stories high beside a fenced compound. SANA had earlier reported that "our air defense systems confronted enemy targets in the vicinity of Damascus."
Iranian media also reported that the strikes in Damascus had "completely destroyed" the annex building, and that "all those inside were killed or wounded." The same reports added that the Iranian 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.
Syria's defense ministry said there were many "wounded, killed" in an Israeli strike, and Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad denounced the attack after visiting the site. "We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus killing a number of innocent people," Mekdad said in a statement broadcast by SANA.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, but the incident will further raise tensions as Israel has intensified its strikes on Iran-linked militant groups during its war in Gaza against Hamas.
Israeli strikes on targets in Syria, mostly Syrian army positions as well as Iran-backed combatants including fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, have intensified since the Israel-Hamas war began in October in the Gaza Strip. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been backed by Iran. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged near-daily fire along the Lebanese border.
The incident in Damascus came three days after the Observatory had 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 organization.