Israeli airstrikes hit the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, killing at least five people, including a senior Iranian commander.
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According to the Syrian Defense Ministry the missile attack occurred at about 5:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) when Israel launched an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting the building of the Iranian Consulat.
Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari told reporters outside the Iranian embassy in Damascus after the attack that five to seven people were killed and about a dozen wounded. He said that Israel's F-35 fighter jets had launched six missiles from the occupied Golan Heights in a criminal targeted offense on the Iranian consulate's building.
According to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, Mohammad-Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his deputy, Mohammad-Hadi Haji Rahimi, were killed in the attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that the strikes resulted in the death of eight people, including a high-ranking commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, as well as two Iranian advisors and five members from the IRGC.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said efforts were underway to retrieve the bodies of the victims, provide medical assistance to the wounded, and remove the rubble. Ambulances rushed to the scene while military vehicles swiftly cordoned off the embassy's perimeter.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, who arrived on the scene after the missile strike, condemned Israel's criminal attack, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law. He further stressed that the move would not affect Syrian-Iranian relations.
For his part, his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said in a telephone conversation with Mekdad that the attack violated all international obligations and conventions, and stressed that Israel would be responsible for the consequences of the action.
In a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry after the attack, ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was quoted as saying that Iran, while reserving its right to take countermeasures, would consider its response to the attack and determine the appropriate punishment for the aggressor.