Two people were killed and several wounded on Monday in what Iranian and Syrian media said was an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, with Iran’s ambassador to Damascus denying reports that the location was an Iranian military outpost.
An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.
Iranian state media reported the two deaths but did not provide any details as to their identity. Tasnim News Agency said Israel “attacked an Iranian military advisory center” in Syria, but Iran’s envoy to Syria, Hossein Akbari, denied the details regarding the target and said the casualties were not Iranian.
Syrian state media, citing a military source, said Israel had launched an air assault on several locations south of Damascus. This is a rare acknowledgment on Damascus’ part of there being Iranian casualties in lieu of Israeli strikes on Syrian territory. It said the attack left both dead and wounded but did not specify any specific numbers.
Explosions were heard near the Sayyidah Zainab Mosque complex on the outskirts of the Syrian capital.
Arab media reported that farming areas south of Damascus were targeted due to their proximity to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stronghold.
The strikes allegedly attacked IRGC’s operational headquarters, a source in Iran’s regional alliance told Reuters.
The airstrikes destroyed the Quds Force branch of the IRGC’s Shii’te stronghold, Arab media reported.
Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members who served as military advisers in Syria were killed in an Israeli attack, Iranian state media reported in November, in the first reported Iranian casualties during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Britain calls for de-escalation in Middle East
Following strikes in Syria and Sunday’s attacks in Jordan that killed three US soldiers, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on Iran to diffuse tension, according to Israeli media platforms.
Sunak said he was disturbed by what was happening in the Middle East and called on Iran to “continue to reduce” tensions in the region.
The United States has also engaged with Iranian forces in Syria since the beginning of the war, with November airstrikes targeting IRGC sites, including a training facility and a safe house near the cities of al-Bukamal and Al-Mayadeen.
The US also killed five Iran-backed fighters in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk in a pre-emptive air strike last week, following several attacks against US forces.
Tal Spungin, Jerusalem Post Staff, and Reuters contributed to this report.