ASTANA, January 24. /TASS/. Russia is against Israel’s attacks on Syrian territory as it may involve the Arab side into the conflict in the Middle East, Russia's special presidential representative for the Syrian settlement Alexander Lavrentyev said.

"We know that the number of airstrikes that Israel conducts, as it puts it, against the facilities of pro-Iranian groups on Syrian territory, has increased. We are strongly against such a way of solving the issue as it only leads to escalation of violence. We do not want Syria to be involved in the regional conflict, and we will do our best to prevent it," he told reporters.

Al Hadath TV channel reported earlier that General Youssef Omid Zadeh, Al-Quds special forces intelligence commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital. Several Iranian officers and an undisclosed number of Syrian servicemen were also killed in the strike.