Middle East crisis: Airstrike in Damascus kills several senior Iranian commanders, Iran says

VideoThe site of a strike close to the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.CreditCredit...Firas Makdesi/Reuters

At least seven officers overseeing the Iranian's covert operations Iran in the Middle East were killed in Damascus on Monday when Israeli military planes struck part of the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital, according to a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the strike, but four Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters sensitive intelligence-related, acknowledged that Israel carried out the attack.

The secret war has already included targeted assassinations by Israel of leaders Iranian military personnel and nuclear scientists, as well as Iran's use of foreign proxies to strike at Israeli interests. Today, that conflict is playing out increasingly openly as tensions between the countries have escalated since Israel and Hamas, an Iran-backed militia in the Gaza Strip, went to war in October .

The Damascus attack killed Mohamad Reza Zahedi, 65, a senior commander in the Quds Force. General Zahedi, according to Iranian officials, oversaw the Quds Force's covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon.

General Mohammad was also killed in this strike. Hadi Haj Rahimi, deputy commander of the Quds Forces in Lebanon and Syria and second-in-command to General Zahedi, and General Hossein Aman Allahi, responsible for the Quds Force's military operations in the region, according to Iranian media and an official statement from the Guards.

“For years, Israel and Iran have been engaged in what is usually called a “shadow war ", said Ali Vaez, Iran. director of the International Crisis Group, said in a social media post Monday. "Today's strike highlights that this term is increasingly inappropriate as tensions rise on several fronts."

Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for Iran. The Foreign Ministry said Iran was still investigating the scale of the attack, but threatened there would be consequences for Israel. “Iran, in addition to having the right to retaliate in kind,” Mr. Kanaani said, “will decide how to respond and punish the aggressor.”

Syrian and Iranian news agencies reported that at least seven people were killed in Monday's strikes and released video footage of the ruined building, remains of burned cars , broken windows and debris covering the ground.

The strike, two members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said, targeted a meeting secret meeting in which Iranian intelligence officials and Palestinian activists met to discuss the war in Gaza. Among them were leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group armed and financed by Iran.

Israel and Iran differed in their descriptions of the building that Washes it. Iran described it as part of its diplomatic mission in Syria, but Israel said it was used by the Revolutionary Guards, making it a legitimate military target.

“It is neither a consulate nor an embassy,” Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told CNN. ...