At least seven officers overseeing Iran’s covert operations in the Middle East were killed in Damascus on Monday when Israeli warplanes struck a the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital, according to a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The strike killed three generals in Iran’s Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign military and intelligence agency, and four other officers, the Corps said, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the years-long shadow war between Israel and Iran.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the strike, but four Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters, acknowledged that Israel carried out the attack.
The secret war previously involved Israel’s targeted assassinations of Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists and Iran’s use of foreign proxies to attack Israeli interests. It is now fighting increasingly openly as tensions between the countries have intensified since Israel and Hamas, an Iranian-backed militia in the Gaza Strip, went to war in October.
The attack in Damascus killed Mohamad Reza Zahedi, 65, a senior Quds Force commander. General Zahedi, Iranian officials said, oversaw the Quds Force’s covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon.
Also killed in the strike were General Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi, deputy commander of the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria and second in command to General Zahedi, and General Hossein Aman Allahi, in charge of the Quds Force’s military operations in the region, according to in Iranian media and an official statement by the Guards.
“For years, Israel and Iran have been engaged in what is commonly called a ‘shadow war,'” Ali Baez, director of the International Crisis Group on Iran, said in a social media post on Monday. “Today’s strike highlights the fact that this is increasingly wrong as tensions rise on multiple fronts.”
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said Iran was still investigating the scope of the attack, but threatened consequences for Israel. “Iran, in addition to the right to respond in kind,” Mr. Kanaani said, “will decide how to respond and punish the aggressor.”
Syrian and Iranian state news agencies said at least seven people were killed in the raids on Monday and broadcast videos of the ruined building, the remains of burnt cars, broken windows and debris covering the ground.
The strike, two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said, targeted a secret meeting in which Iranian intelligence officials and Palestinian militants gathered to discuss the war in Gaza. Among them were leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group armed and financed by Iran.
Israel and Iran differed in their descriptions of the building that was hit. Iran has described it as part of its diplomatic mission in Syria, but an Israeli official said it is being used by the Revolutionary Guards, making it a legitimate military target.
“Targeting a diplomatic facility is akin to targeting Iran on its own soil,” said Mr. Vaez, the analyst. Failure to respond would undermine Iran’s military presence in Syria, he said, but “if they respond they will fall into the trap they believe Israel has set for them to go to direct war.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian strongly condemned the attack in a statement and said he had spoken with his Syrian counterpart about the “Zionist regime’s attack on the consulate of the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Damascus.”
Syria’s defense ministry said the strikes occurred around 5pm local time when Israeli warplanes entered Syria from the Golan Heights.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, said in a statement released to state media that the consulate building was attacked by two F-35 fighter jets. Mr Akbari said several Iranian military advisers deployed to Syria were among the dead.
“This attack will have our fierce response,” he said, according to Iranian media.
The attack rattled supporters of Iran’s government, who once again questioned on social media how Israel knew about the secret meeting and whether Iran’s security apparatus had been infiltrated by informants.
Peyman Syed Taheri, a conservative analyst close to the government, said in an interview from Tehran that Israel’s attack on Damascus has shaken Iranians who fear the government’s approach to confrontation with Israel has failed.
“Our national security has been compromised. “Either Iran must respond so that Israel does not attack us in Tehran, or if it does not want to respond, then it must review and moderate its regional policies and military presence,” Mr. Taheri said.
April 1, 2024
:
An earlier version of this article misstated the last name of an Iranian Quds Force commander who was reported killed in an airstrike in Damascus, Syria. It was General Mohamad Reza Zahedi, not Zahedani.
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