Top Iranian commander killed in attack in Syria

Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, was killed in an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. The building is located near the Iranian embassy in the Al-Mezzeh neighborhood, where other diplomatic headquarters are located. Five other people were reportedly killed in the incident.

Iranian and Syrian media blamed Israel for the attack. This is the most significant assassination since Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quids Force, was killed in an operation carried out by the United States in January 2020 in Iraq.

Zahedi served as commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon. He previously held many senior positions in the Revolutionary Guard and commanded both the organization's air forces and ground forces.

Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, the IDF has already increased its state of alert for a possible Iranian response.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called the bombing a "terrorist attack," while his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that "Israel is responsible for the consequences of this."

Israeli journalist Ron Ben Yishai told the Israeli media outlet Ynet that the attack could be related to the fact that the building was linked to Hezbollah and militias that act against Israel from Syria. Likewise, it could have been in response to the drone attack against a naval base in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, launched by Iraqi militias on alleged orders from Iran.

The attack came after the Syrian Ministry of Defense accused Israel of launching offensives against several targets in the Damascus area, wounding two people and causing material damage. According to Syrian opposition sources, these attacks targeted a scientific research institute, President Bashar Al-Assad's forces and the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Several embassies are located in the Al-Mezzeh neighborhood, including those of Iran and Lebanon. On January 20, Iran accused Israel of killing five of its "military advisors" in that neighborhood, including the head of the Quds Force intelligence unit in Syria. In the same neighborhood, the Jewish State tried to kill Akram al-Ajouri, leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, just over four years ago, on the same day that the Israelis killed Baha Abu al-Ata, the commander of that terrorist group's Northern Brigade in Gaza.

This is a developing news story.