IRGC advisors killed in suspected Israeli strike on Damascus

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Multiple casualties including Iranians were reported in a strike on a residential building in Damascus on Saturday, blamed on Israel.

An Israeli missile targeted a four-story building, completely destroying the building where there was “a meeting of leaders close to Iran” and killing five people, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). 

Four Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members, including two senior military advisors to Syria, were among the dead, reported Iran’s Mehr news agency.  

The IRGC has confirmed the deaths of four advisors, adding that many Syrian soldiers were killed as well. It blamed Israel for the attack.

The residential building was located in the Mezzeh neighborhood of southwestern Damascus, state media SANA reported, also blaming Israel.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 12-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that supports the Syrian army.

Israel has intensified its attacks since October 7, conducting at least 46 strikes on Syrian territory, killing 78 members of armed forces or militias and five civilians, according to SOHR. Several senior IRGC members were also killed. In retaliation, Iran on Monday fired ballistic missiles at what it alleged was a Mossad base in Erbil. The family home of businessman Peshraw Dizayee was destroyed and he and his baby daughter were killed.

While it rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran gaining a foothold there.

Updated at 1:38 pm