Senior Iranian military advisors killed in what Tehran says is Israeli airstrike on Damascus

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has reserved the right to respond to what it described as the assassination of its military advisors "at the appropriate time and place," after four senior advisers in Iran's Revolutionary Guard were reportedly killed in what is thought to have been an airstrike on Damascus.

Iran has blamed Israel for the attack on the Syrian capital city, which, it says, has resulted in the deaths of four military advisers and a number of Syrian soldiers.

There has been no comment from Israel on the matter so far, although Israel has carried out similar strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria on a number of occasions over the years. The strikes have gone up in number since Israel began large scale military action in Gaza, in retaliation for Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel.

Senior figures from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which hold major military, political and economic power in the country, have been present in Syria since the outbreak of civil war there in 2011, to support President Bashar al-Assad’s regime against widespread rebellion against his rule.

The strike on Saturday is reported to have targeted the Mazzeh neighbourhood of south-west Damascus, which houses a military airport, several embassies as well as the UN headquarters in Damascus.

According to Iran's semi-official news agency, Mehr, the attacks had killed the IRGC's Syria intelligence chief, his deputy, and two other Guard members.

The State-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the military had succeeded in stopping some of the missiles, but that the attacks had struck a residential building, resulting in civilian injuries and deaths. 

It is not the first such incident. Last month a suspected Israeli air strike just outside Damascus had also killed a senior IRGC commander.

In its October 7 attack on southern Israel, Hamas killed around 1,300 people, mainly civilians, and took 240 hostages back to Gaza, of whom 132 are thought to still be in captivity.

Israel’s retaliation has resulted in over 24,900 deaths so far in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.