According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, an Israeli missile strike targeted a building in the Mazzeh neighborhood, where the Iranian embassy and several diplomatic missions are located. The strike killed at least five Iranian military advisers and a number of Syrian forces in Damascus. One of the dead was Hojjatollah Omidvar, the deputy chief of the Quds Force intelligence unit in Syria. Iran blamed Israel for the attack and said it was a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The attack in Damascus comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza enters it’s fourth month. Iran is a major ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, two militant groups that have been fighting against Israel in Gaza and Lebanon respectively. Iran has also been supporting the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that has been raging since 2011.
Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Syria to prevent Iran from expanding its influence and transferring weapons to it’s allies. This is the second high-profile assassination of an Iranian official in Syria in less than a month. In December 2023, an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Iranian general there.
