The Iranian consulate in Damascus has been “destroyed”, according to the Syrian state news agency.
Further reports claim that a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been killed but the ambassador survived.
Four other people are also said to have lost their lives.
Both a Lebanese security source who spoke to Reuters and Iran’s Tasnim news agency claimed there had been an Israeli airstrike.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that two of its top commanders were killed in the strike.
Earlier it was confirmed that Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi had died but now the IRGC have said Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi also perished.
Along with the commanders, five officers were also killed in the attack named as Hossein Amanallahi, Sayid Mehdi Jalalati, Mohsen Sedaghat, Ali Agha Babaei and Sayid Ali Salehi Roozbahani
In a statement the IRGC congratulated the soldiers “martyrdom” and said plans for the transfer, funeral and burial of their bodies would be announced later.
Iran’s foreign ministry has strongly condemned the attack and laid the blame at Israel’s feet.
Spokesman Nasser Kanaani described the attack a “gross violation” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, saying the international community and the UN should condemn the act in the strongest possible terms.
Tehran’s ambassador to Damascus has said that the Iranian response to the strike will be “harsh”.
He further claimed that between five and seven people had been killed.
The Iranian Arabic-language state television Al-Alam and pan-Arab television station Al-Mayadeen, said the strike killed Iranian military adviser General Ali Reza Zahdi.
General Zahdi previously led the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.
Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad told the media after meeting Iran’s ambassador, Hossein Akbari, that “several” people were killed, without offering further information.
Iranian state television said the Iranian ambassador’s residence was in the consular building, which stood next to the embassy.
Agency Reports
