The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Wednesday that the death toll from an Israeli air strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus this week had risen to 16. The raid destroyed the consular annex of the embassy, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard saying two of its high-level commanders were among seven of its personnel killed. Among the dead were eight Iranians, five Syrians, and one member of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, all fighters. Two civilians, a woman and her son, were also killed in the attack.
One of the dead, named as Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, had served as leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force for Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. This strike was the fifth in a week to hit Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is supported by Iran. Hezbollah fighters have been deployed in Syria in support of Assad’s forces in the country’s civil war. Another Israeli raid last Friday killed 53 people in Syria, including 38 soldiers and seven Hezbollah members, marking the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began on October 7, according to the Observatory.
