Iran’s Most Senior Commander In Syria And Lebanon Eliminated In Damascus Attack

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In Monday evening’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascys, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards official was killed. The official was identified as Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who was the commander of the Syrian and Lebanese forces of the Revolutionary Guards.

The Revolutionary Guards said that seven of its members were killed in the strike, including Zahedi and his deputy.

Zahedi’s assassination is described by Israeli military correspondent Yoav Limor as “the most significant elimination since Qasem Suleimani”, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards who was killed in a January 2020 targeted attack by the US. Zahedi is the most senior Iranian eliminated since the beginning of the war (second only to the general who commands the Revolutionary Guard, Hussein Salami), and was the person who directed and coordinated all of the Iranian actions in the region- including its involvement with Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Shiite militias in Syria.

Zahedi, a veteran commander who directed Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980’s, also directed the smuggling of weapons from Iran and Syria to Lebanon as  well as the production of weapons in the region, as well as the Iranian attacks on Israel, including the recent drone attack on an Israeli base in Eilat.

He was also the closest person to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and it remains to be seen what type of response the terror organization will have for the most severe blow that Iran has sustained in the current conflict.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said that Iran would decide on “the type of response and punishment against the aggressor.”

Israeli diplomatic and defense officials have yet to comment on the air strikes near the Iranian consulate in Damascus, but four Israeli officials acknowledged to The New York Times that Israel had carried out the attack.

Al Hadath TV channel: “At least 11 people were killed in an Israeli Air Force missile strike on the Mezze neighborhood in Damascus, where the Iranian embassy is located. The number of victims of the air attack increased after the rubble of the Iranian diplomatic mission building… pic.twitter.com/dpfaXgvpOS

— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) April 2, 2024

According to the report, the strikes targeted a secret meeting in which Iranian intelligence officials and Palestinian Arab terrorists gathered to discuss the war in Gaza. Among them were leaders of the Islamic Jihad.

Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, said in a statement that the consulate’s building came under attack by two F-35 fighter jets. He added that among those killed were several Iranian military advisers deployed to Syria.