The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on sources in Syria, said it “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 is widely supported by Iran and its allies.
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.
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 scene confirmed the building next to the embassy, an annex, had been levelled, in an upscale neighbourhood of Damascus.
Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus was flattened on Monday in what Syrian and Iranian media described as an Israeli air strike, a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies.
A Lebanese security source, speaking to Reuters, said one of the dead was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Iranian state television said several Iranian diplomats had been killed.
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 Iranian flag hung from a pole in front of the debris. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers were both spotted at the scene.
Israel, which has repeatedly hit Iranian targets during the six-month war in Gaza, declined to comment on the incident, following its usual practice. An Israeli military spokesperson said: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."
Iran's Tasnim news agency said five people were killed in the Israeli strike. Syria's SANA state news agency reported an unspecified number of deaths and injuries.
Since the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Israel has ramped up airstrikes in Syria against Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's Guards, both of which support the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
