Iran vows strong response as it accuses Israel of Iran’s consulate strike in Syria

TEHRAN: Iran has vowed a strong response after it accused Israel of destroying the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus in a missile attack, killing seven of its military officers including three top commanders and his deputy on Monday.

A senior commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi were killed in Monday’s attack, the IRGC said in a statement.

Iranian authorities along with Syria on Tuesday accused Israel behind the attack, with Tehran warning of a serious response. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said the strike will be met with punishment and revenge.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Tuesday blamed Israel for the Iranian consulate attack and said it will not go unanswered, state-run news agency IRNA reported. Iran also said it would hold the United States answerable due to its support of Israel.

However, Israel has not accepted the responsibility for the attack. But a senior Israeli government official, speaking to Reuters, said those hit had “been behind many attacks on Israeli and American assets and had plans for additional attacks”.

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According to the details, the airstrike destroyed the consulate building in the Mezzeh district of Damascus inside the diplomatic compound, adjacent to the main Iranian embassy building.

United Kingdom-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as many as 11 people had been killed, including eight Iranians, two Syrians, and one Lebanese, all of them fighters.

Brigadier General Zahedi, a former commander of the IRGC’s ground forces, air force, and the deputy commander of its operations, is the most high-profile Iranian military officer killed since the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said, “We strongly condemn this atrocious terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed several innocents.” Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the strike hit a consular building in the embassy compound and that his residence was on the top two floors.