Israel airstrikes on Damascus has reportedly killed five people where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting on Saturday, according to Iranian and Syrian media.
The bombardment happened in the Mezzeh neighbourhood of western Damascus, an area known for housing several embassies, including those of Lebanon and Iran.
Iranian IRGC Brigadier General Yousef Omidzadeh and his deputy were reportedly killed in this morning’s attack by Israeli fighter jets.
The strike on the pro-Iranian Syrian capital is part of a broader escalation in the region between Iran and Israel that has rapidly escalated in just the last week, including a large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza that has resulted in more than 21,000 deaths in three months in Gaza alone.
Last week has been marred by missile and counter-missile strikes in several countries in the region, although most of the participating countries still want to avoid a full-scale pan-regional war, say experts.
In the past month, an Israeli airstrike in a Damascus suburb led to the death of Iranian general Seyed Razi Mousavi, who was associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and active in Syria.
Israel’s military actions in Syria have frequently targeted individuals and groups from Palestine and Lebanon over recent years.
Israel has conducted numerous airstrikes in Syria in the last week, mainly in areas under government control, focusing on Iran-supported militant groups such as Hezbollah from Lebanon, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The attacks have been limited to areas that are informally acknowledged as active combat zones and have regularly suffered attacks and so less likely to spark a wider conflict for the time being.
Israel has yet to comment on the Syrian strikes, but rarely confirms its operations in Syria, maintaining that its strikes are aimed at military targets associated with “terrorist” groups.
Earlier in the month, a strike in Beirut, attributed to Israel, resulted in the death of Saleh Arouri, a senior Hamas commander.
Syria-Israel tensions have been exacerbated by rocket attacks from Syria into northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and attacks in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels of Yemen, who Iran backs.
