Israel kills a outstanding Iranian army commander within the ambassador's residence in Damascus | International | EUROtoday

Israel appears to be capturing increased and farther. One of probably the most outstanding Iranian army commanders in Syria, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, misplaced his life this Monday in an aerial bombardment towards the ambassador's residence in Damascus that has killed no less than 5 different individuals. Both Syria and Iran level to Israel, which has attacked the nation a whole lot of instances because the conflict in Syria started in 2011, though it normally stays silent about its involvement, as on this event. Another aerial bombardment attributed to Israel, final Friday, was the deadliest since 2021 in Syria. It induced round 40 deaths close to the capital's airport and was directed towards Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia allied to Tehran that fights on the facet of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has blamed Israel for the “consequences” of the assault. The two actions, carefully adopted, enhance the chance of additional setting the Middle East on fireplace.

Reza Zahedi was a brigadier common of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, created by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. With some 125,000 males, the pasdarans (as they’re typically referred to as) function the spearhead of politics. of Iran within the area.

Hossein Akbari, the ambassador who emerged unhurt from the assault, has indicated that F-35 fighter-bombers (which the United States supplies to Israel) launched as much as six missiles towards the constructing, which seems utterly destroyed within the photos. His workplace is subsequent door. Akbari, who promised that his nation will reply “toughly,” put the dying toll between 5 and 7. “We cannot give an exact figure until the rubble is removed,” he mentioned on Iranian state tv. Shortly after, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO with quite a few collaborators on the bottom, acknowledged that the bombing killed 5 members of the Revolutionary Guard and two Iranian advisors.

It is the primary assault towards the Embassy compound, situated within the protected Mezzeh district, the place Pasdaran leaders or Palestinian militias near Iran (particularly the Islamic Jihad) normally reside and go to and different international locations have their diplomatic legations.

“The head of the octopus”

Israel factors to its archenemy Iran as masterminding and financier of the October 7 Hamas assault and has made clear that its retaliation is not going to be restricted to Hamas. “Who says we are not attacking Iran? We are attacking. Iran is the head of the octopus and you can see its tentacles everywhere, from the Houthis [en Yemen] to Hezbollah or Hamas,” mentioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a press convention final January.

The Israeli military has been escalating its assaults outdoors Gaza for weeks. It has elevated the so-called “selective killings” and final week it launched its most deadly assault deeper into Lebanon, with 16 lifeless. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant then introduced that he would “expand the campaign and increase the pace of attacks” towards Hezbollah as a result of it’s going “from defending itself to persecuting it.” […] wherever it operates: in Beirut, Damascus or extra distant locations.”

The army affairs correspondent of Israeli tv channel 13, Or Heller, has linked the assault to the negotiation of a second ceasefire that has been held for weeks in Qatar (additionally this Monday, though with out the participation of Israeli delegates or Hamas). Heller assures that Tehran is urging Hamas to face agency on its calls for and a homicide “in broad daylight inside the compound of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus is a clear message.”

Destruction and corpses in Al Shifa

The assault in Syria occurred hours after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza's largest hospital, Al Shifa, after two weeks of invasion. The march of the troops has allowed us to acquire the primary photos: burned buildings, corpses on the bottom and piles of rubble.

The troopers withdrew early Monday, ending an operation wherein Israel claims to have killed “200 terrorists” and detained about 500. The military blames Palestinian militias for utilizing hospitals to launch assaults, one thing Hamas denies. “Al Shifa is not a hospital, it is a house of terrorists,” Netanyahu mentioned this Sunday. The Hamas Government in Gaza places the dying toll at round 400 and notes that these embrace civilians in addition to sufferers, medical personnel and displaced individuals.

After the withdrawal, a whole lot of Gazans got here to see the state of the middle. Health authorities communicate of full items destroyed. Videos on social networks present buildings with the black shade of a hearth and indicators of pictures and bombings on the partitions. Raed al-Nims, a consultant of the Palestinian Red Crescent, claims that the Israeli army burned down quite a few residences and that there are “many bodies” on the bottom.

According to the spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense, Mahmud Busal, some our bodies present indicators of execution, are in a sophisticated state of decomposition or have been buried as a result of army autos cleared the streets. The Ministry of Health studies “very significant damage,” whereas Israel speaks of a “precise operation” wherein it protected displaced individuals, sufferers and employees whereas combating hand-to-hand towards militiamen.

The extent of the destruction in Al Shifa provides one other drawback to the Strip's well being system, which is “barely surviving,” in keeping with the most recent report from the United Nations humanitarian affairs workplace, final Friday. 10 of the 36 hospitals that Gaza had earlier than the conflict stay in operation, and solely partially, and which additionally home tens of 1000’s of displaced individuals. The Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government has subsequently requested the inhabitants this Monday to order them “only for the sick and wounded.”

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