Senior Iran Revolutionary Guard officials killed in Syria strike blamed on Israel
Four senior members of Iran's security forces have been killed in a suspected air strike on the Syrian capital.
Four senior members of Iran's security forces have been killed in a suspected air strike on the Syrian capital.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard blamed Israel for the attack, which it said killed four military advisers as well as a number of Syrian forces.
Israel has not commented. For years it has carried out strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria.
Such strikes have intensified since the Israel-Gaza war began following Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel.
Senior figures among the Revolutionary Guard - a major military, political and economic force in Iran - have been present in Syria since the civil war began there in 2011, helping to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against widespread rebellion to his rule.
Saturday's attack is understood to have taken place in the Mazzeh neighbourhood, south-west Damascus, an area home to a military airport, as well as the UN headquarters in Damascus, embassies and restaurants.
A resident told AFP news agency that they saw "explosions" in the western Mazzeh area and "a large cloud of smoke".
"The sound was similar to a missile explosion, and minutes later I heard the sound of ambulances," he added.
Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency said the attacks killed the IRGC's Syria intelligence chief, his deputy, as well as two other Guard members.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency quoted a military source saying it had managed to stop some of the missiles, but that the attacks had killed some people, and "injured a number of civilians". Buildings were also destroyed, it said.
