Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard members killed in Israeli attack in Syria

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said five of its members were killed in an Israeli attack on the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Syrian regime-run media SANA said the attack on Saturday took place in the Mazzeh neighbourhood. It said “Israeli aggression” targeted the building.

In an earlier statement, the IRGC said identified the people killed as Hojjatollah Omidvar, Ali Aghazadeh, Hossein Mohammadi and Saied Karimi, without sharing their ranks.

Later, the IRGC confirmed a fifth member of the force also died after succumbing to his wounds, naming him as Mohammad Amin Samadi, Iranian state media reported.

International war monitor groups reported that 10 people were killed in the Israeli strike

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran would respond "at the appropriate time and place", and condemned "an escalation in aggressive and provocative attacks" by Israel.

During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces as well as Syrian regime army positions.

But it has intensified attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7.

The Mazzeh area is also home to the United Nations' headquarters, embassies and restaurants.

Exchanges of fire

Saturday's presumed Israeli strike was their second high-profile targeted assassination in Syria in less than a month.

In December, an Israeli air strike killed a senior Iranian general in Syria, the military force said.

Razi Moussavi was the most senior commander of the Guards' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, to be killed outside Iran since a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020 killed the Force's commander, Qasem Soleimani.

On January 2 in neighbouring Lebanon, where the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway, Hamas deputy Saleh al Arouri was killed in a strike widely blamed on Israel.

Days later, Israel killed top Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil in a strike on his car in south Lebanon.

Recent months have also seen regular cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence there.

Since 2011, Syria has endured a bloody conflict that has claimed over half a million lives and displaced several million people and plunged.