Israeli airstrike on Syria’s Damascus kills at least four IRGC advisers: Report

An Israeli strike on the Syrian capital on Saturday destroyed a building used by the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, killing at least four Iranians, Syrian and Iranian state media reported.

Iranian state television said four advisers from the Revolutionary Guards had been killed in the strike in Damascus, without identifying them, adding that Israel was behind the strike.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency cited an IRGC statement as saying that the four killed are Hujtollah Omidar, Ali Aghazadeh, Hossein Mohammadi and Saeed Karimi.

An opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least six people — five Iranians and a Syrian — were killed in the missile attack that struck while officials from Iran-backed groups were holding a meeting.

The Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdel Rahman, said three of the Iranians were commanders, adding that four other people are still missing under the rubble.

Syrian state TV reported that the “Israeli aggression” targeted a residential building in the tightly guarded western Damascus neighborhood of Mazzeh, home to several diplomatic missions. Saturday’s strike was close to the embassies of Venezuela and South Africa.

An official with knowledge of the situation said that the building was used by Revolutionary Guard officials, adding that the “Israeli missiles” destroyed the whole building and that 10 people were either killed or wounded in the attack.

The official is from an Iran-backed group, but asked that his name and affiliation not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly about security affairs.

The Israeli military did not comment on the strike.

Security forces deployed around the destroyed four-story building as ambulances and fire engines were seen in the area. A search for people trapped under the rubble was underway. Windows were also shattered in nearby buildings.

A grocer near the scene of the strike said he heard five consecutive explosions at about 9:15 a.m., adding that he later witnessed the bodies of a man and a woman being taken away as well as three wounded people.

“The shop shook. I stayed inside for few seconds then went out and saw the smoke billowing from behind the mosque,” the man, who asked that his name not be used for security reasons, told The Associated Press.

“What happened was terrifying. I collapsed,” said Khaled Mawed, who lives nearby.

The strike came amid widening tensions in the region as Israel pushes ahead with its offensive in Gaza. Israel’s assault there, one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, caused widespread destruction and uprooted over 80 percent of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

Israel launched the offensive after an unprecedented cross-border attack into Israel by Hamas on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage. Roughly 130 hostages are believed by Israel to remain in Hamas captivity. The war has stoked tensions across the region, threatening to ignite other conflicts.

Last month, an Israeli airstrike on a suburb of Damascus killed Iranian general Seyed Razi Mousavi, a longtime adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria. Israel has also targeted Palestinian and Lebanese operatives in Syria over the past years.

Iranian and Syrian officials have long acknowledged Iran has advisers and military experts in Syria, but denied there were any ground troops.

With the Associated Press