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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran’s consulate in Syria on Monday killed two Iranian generals and 5 officers, based on Iranian officers. The strike appeared to indicate an escalation of Israel’s focusing on of navy officers from Iran, which helps militant teams preventing Israel in Gaza, and alongside its border with Lebanon.
Since the war in Gaza started practically six months in the past, clashes have elevated between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants primarily based in Lebanon. Hamas, which guidelines Gaza and attacked Israel on Oct. 7, can be backed by Iran.
Israel, which hardly ever acknowledges strikes in opposition to Iranian targets, stated it had no touch upon the most recent assault in Syria, though a navy spokesman blamed Iran for a drone attack early Monday in opposition to a naval base in southern Israel.
Israel has grown more and more impatient with the day by day exchanges of fireplace with Hezbollah, which have escalated in latest days, and warned of the potential of a full-fledged warfare. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have additionally been launching long-range missiles towards Israel, together with on Monday.
The airstrike in Syria killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the elite Quds Pressure in Lebanon and Syria till 2016, based on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. It additionally killed Zahedi’s deputy, Gen Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, and 5 different officers.
![Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Iran's consulate in Syria, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/660b883b22000035004b8dde.jpg?cache=yA7ArI6Bz0&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
Fars Media Company/Wikimedia
A member of Hezbollah, Hussein Youssef, additionally was killed within the assault, an official with the militant group informed The Related Press. The official spoke on situation of anonymity in keeping with group’s guidelines. Hezbollah has not publicly introduced the loss of life.A member of Hezbollah, Hussein Youssef, additionally was killed within the assault, an official with the militant group informed The Related Press. The official spoke on situation of anonymity in keeping with group’s guidelines. Hezbollah has not publicly introduced the loss of life.
Hezbollah supplied condolences to Iran for Zahedi’s loss of life and known as Israel “silly when it believes that liquidating the leaders can cease the roaring tide of the individuals’s resistance.” It added in its assertion that the killing “is not going to go with out the enemy receiving punishment and revenge.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is predicated in Britain, stated two Syrians additionally have been killed.
Two cops who guarded the consulate have been amongst these wounded, and first responders have been nonetheless looking for our bodies underneath the rubble.
Whereas Iran’s consular constructing was leveled within the assault, based on Syria’s state information company, its principal embassy constructing remained intact. Nonetheless, the Iranian ambassador’s residence was contained in the consular constructing.
Iran’s ambassador, Hossein Akbari, vowed revenge for the strike “on the identical magnitude and harshness.”
Hamas and Islamic Jihad — one other Palestinian militant group backed by Iran — accused Israel of searching for to widen the battle in Gaza.
Specialists stated there was little doubt that Iran would retaliate. The strike in Syria was a “main escalation,” Charles Lister, a Syria skilled on the Center East Institute in Washington, stated on the social media platform X.
A spokesman for Iran’s overseas ministry, Nasser Kanaani, known as on different nations to sentence the strike.
![Emergency and security personnel search the rubble at the site of strikes which hit a building annexed to the Iranian embassy in Syria's capital Damascus, on April 1, 2024. Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit an Iranian consular annex in the capital on April 1, while a war monitor reported eight people were killed and Iranian state media said a senior commander of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was among the dead, amid rising regional tensions due to the Gaza war. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/660b8907230000aa28657ca4.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
LOUAI BESHARA through Getty Photos
Israel has attacked scores of Iranian-linked targets in Syria through the years with the obvious intent of disrupting arms transfers and different cooperation with Hezbollah. which has despatched hundreds of fighters to assist Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
An Israeli airstrike in a Damascus neighborhood in December killed a longtime Iranian Revolutionary Guard adviser to Syria, Seyed Razi Mousavi.
The same strike on a constructing in Damascus in January killed a minimum of 5 Iranian advisers. Final week, an Iranian adviser was killed in airstrikes over the japanese Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, close to the Iraqi border.
The chief spokesman for Israel’s military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, stated a Monday drone assault on a naval base in southern Israel was “directed by Iran” and precipitated no accidents.
Early on Tuesday, the Israeli navy stated some type of weapon fired from Syria towards Israel crashed earlier than reaching its meant goal.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Related Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Abby Sewell in Los Angeles and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, contributed to this report.
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This story has been edited to right that title of one of many generals is Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
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