At least five Iranian military advisors and several Syrian forces were killed in an Israeli missile strike on a building in Damascus on Saturday, according to Syrian and Iranian state media. This serves as another sign of hostilities in the Middle East as Israel’s war on Gaza enters its fourth month.
The incident occurred in the Mazzeh neighbourhood, southwest Damascus, an area that houses a military airport, the UN headquarters, embassies, and restaurants.
Iran's Mehr news agency stated that the attack resulted in the deaths of the IRGC's Syria intelligence chief, his deputy, and other Guard members. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based campaign group, reported 10 casualties, including leaders of the Revolutionary Guard.
Following this, an Israeli drone strike on a car near the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre resulted in the deaths of two individuals, including a Hezbollah member in the vehicle, along with two people in a nearby orchard, according to Lebanon's state news agency.
How has Iran responded?
Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi, responded to the air strike on the Syrian capital, expressing that the attack, which claimed the lives of five senior members of Iran's security forces, "will not go unanswered."
In a statement posted on the president's official website, Mr. Raisi conveyed condolences to the families of the "high-ranking martyrs" and denounced the attack as a "cowardly assassination of five of Iran's most distinguished advisors."
The statement described the strike as "terrorist and criminal" and said it "shows the height of [Israel's] desperation and weakness against the combatants of the resistance front".
"It will not remain unanswered," said the statement.
What else has been happening in the Middle East?
The attack in Damascus comes as Israel’s war on Gaza is spiralling into a regional war. At least 24,927 people have been killed and 62,388 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
Last week, an Iranian missile attack in northern Iraq targeted what Tehran claimed was a spy base for the Israeli intelligence organisation Mossad. Hezbollah, a militant group in Lebanon, has been fighting Israeli forces across the border almost every day.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have started a series of attacks on commercial ships and Western military boats in the Red Sea.
