Israeli strike on Damascus kills four Iranian Revolutionary Guards

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS: An Israeli missile strike on Syria's capital Damascus on Saturday killed four members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, including the head of the force's information unit in Syria, a security source in the regional pro-Syria alliance told Reuters.

Israel has long pursued a bombing campaign against Iran-linked targets in Syria. But it has shifted to deadlier strikes in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

Syrian state media said a building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus was targeted in a likely Israeli attack, without giving further details. Other local media in Syria said explosions were heard across the Syrian capital.

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The security source, part of a network of groups close to Syria's government and its major ally Iran, said the multi-story building was used by Iranian advisers supporting President Bashar al-Assad's government, and that it was entirely flattened by "precision-targeted Israeli missiles".

Iran's state-run Press TV said two Iranian Guards military advisers were killed in the Israeli strike on Damascus.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Essam Al-Amin, head of the Al-Mowasat Hospital in Damascus, told Reuters that his hospital had received one corpse and three wounded people, including a woman, following Saturday's attack.

A spokesman for the Islamic Jihad told Reuters that no members of their group were wounded in the strike, following reports that some were at the bombed-out building.

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In December, an Israeli strike killed two Guards members in Damascus, and another on Dec. 25 killed a senior adviser to the Guards who was overseeing military coordination between Syria and Iran.