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Conflict in Syria

At least five killed in Israeli strike on Iranian consulate in Damascus — ambassador

Hossein Akbari confirmed that the strike may have killed Iranian diplomats and military advisers inside the building

BEIRUT, April 1. /TASS/. At least five people were killed in the Israeli strike on the building of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari said.

"As a result of an attack by the Zionist regime (Israel is implied - TASS), five to seven people have suffered martyrdom. Later, we will announce the names and the [specified] number of those killed," the Iranian state TV channel IRIB quoted the ambassador as saying. Akbari confirmed that the strike may have killed Iranian diplomats and military advisers inside the building.

According to Iran’s state TV channel Press TV, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a brigadier general of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, elite units of the Armed Forces), as well as his deputy were killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital. Zahedi was on the list of persons against whom the UN Security Council in 2007 introduced sanctions in connection with Tehran's nuclear program. In 2006-2008, he was the commander-in-chief of the IRGC ground forces, and from 2008 to 2016 he commanded the IRGC's Quds Force units in Lebanon and Syria.

Earlier, the Syrian agency SANA said that Israeli warplanes attacked a house in Damascus. According to the Iranian TV channel SNN, the building of the consulate and the residence of the Iranian ambassador was hit.

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