Iran has vowed to avenge the deaths of five Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers in Syria on Saturday, blaming Israel for the missile strike on a residential building in Damascus.
A senior Quds Force intelligence officer in Syria, Haj Sadiq (Yusuf Omidzadeh), was killed in the strike, according to reports, along with his adviser and three others. According to Reuters, Iranian state media described three of the officers with an honorific only used for generals, indicating that they were senior commanders.
Several Syrian troops were also killed in the attack on the city’s Mazzeh neighborhood, according to an IRGC statement, with the fifth IRGC adviser later succumbing to severe wounds sustained during the airstrike.
“Precision-targeted Israeli missiles” destroyed the building, a security source close to the Syrian and Iranian regimes told Reuters.
Israel did not confirm the attack. Jerusalem rarely takes responsibility for attacks on terrorist elements in Syria.
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said in a statement that the attack “will not remain unanswered” and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Tehran “reserves the right to respond in kind to Israel’s organized terrorism at the right time and place in addition to pursuing these aggressive and criminal acts through political, legal and international channels.”
Additionally, an Israeli airstrike in Southern Lebanon on Saturday killed a member of the Hezbollah terrorist group and another Lebanese national, Reuters reported.
