bPictures from the site of the explosion in Damascus show a completely destroyed building right next to the representative main building of the Iranian embassy. Smoke rises and rescue workers comb through the rubble. A larger-than-life portrait of Qassem Soleimani still hangs on the fence in front of the entrance. The then commander of the Quds Force, the arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard responsible for foreign operations, was killed by an American missile attack in Baghdad in January 2020.
Another high-ranking commander of the elite force was killed in the explosion in western Damascus late on Monday afternoon: Mohammad Reza Zahedi. The Revolutionary Guard confirmed corresponding reports on Monday evening. His deputy Mohammad Hadi Haji and five other members of the Revolutionary Guard were also killed in the attack.
Meanwhile, in the Iranian capital Tehran, hundreds of government supporters gathered in the city center in the evening for spontaneous protests, eyewitnesses reported. The crowd demanded revenge for the killing of the generals. They chanted, among other things, “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.”
Zahedi is said to have commanded the Al-Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon until almost ten years ago. Iranian state television reported that 65-year-old Zahedi was the target of an Israeli attack on the embassy's consulate building in the Syrian capital. Several people, according to various reports five to seven, are said to have been killed. According to Iranian sources, they were diplomats.
“Breach of all diplomatic conventions”
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also blamed Israel for the attack. He spoke of a “breaking of all diplomatic conventions”. Iran's ambassador to Damascus, Hossein Akbari, who was unhurt, said Israeli warplanes fired several rockets at the building. He announced “harsh” retaliation for the commander’s death.
The American newspaper “New York Times” reported on Monday evening, citing a member of the Revolutionary Guard, that the attack had targeted a meeting of Iranian intelligence officials and representatives of militant Palestinian groups, which Zahedi was attending.
As is usual in such cases, there was no comment from Israel. The Israeli army has stepped up its action against Iranian-controlled forces in recent months. In particular, the exchange of blows with the Shiite Hezbollah militia on the Israeli-Lebanese border intensified significantly with the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th.
The Israeli attacks are reaching further and further into Lebanese and Syrian territory. On Friday, Israeli airstrikes were suspected of hitting Hezbollah facilities near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Around 40 people are said to have been killed, mostly Syrian soldiers. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said later on Friday that Israel would step up military operations against Hezbollah and increase the number of attacks in the north. The organization will strike wherever the organization operates, said Galant – “in Beirut, Damascus or in more distant places.”
There have also been Israeli attacks on members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in recent months. At the end of December, Brigadier General Razi Mousavi, also a senior officer in the Revolutionary Guard, was killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Syria. And in December and January, according to Iranian sources, seven members of the Revolutionary Guard and Iranian “advisers” died in Israeli attacks. An attack on an Iranian diplomatic mission and the targeted killing of one of the most important commanders of the Al-Quds Force would still represent an escalation of Israel's actions.
What consequences this will have is uncertain. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday evening, according to state media, that Iran reserves the right to respond with “countermeasures” to the Israeli attack on its consulate. Iran will decide for itself how to “punish the aggressor,” he said.
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