From Shadows to spotlight: Israel-Iran conflict escalates with Damascus strike

The Syrian Ministry of Defence announced on Monday that Israeli armed forces had conducted a strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that day. According to Syrian state media, at least six people died, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the elite Iranian Al-Quds unit in Syria and Lebanon.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that Tehran reserves the right to retaliatory action. Although no one officially admitted to conducting the strike, Syrian authorities attributed responsibility to Israel.

This was one of the most bloody Israeli operations aimed at Iran, commented the "New York Times" on Tuesday. It also wrote that in the attack, at least three high-ranking Iranian commanders and four other officers overseeing Tehran's secret operations in the Middle East region were killed. These attacks have been ongoing for years, targeting mainly military commanders and scientists involved in nuclear research, added the newspaper, citing estimates regarding the victims presented by the authorities of Iran and Syria.

Four officials from Israel, wishing to remain anonymous, confirmed in a conversation with "NYT" that their government was responsible for the shelling in Damascus but denied that the attacked facility had the status of a diplomatic mission. The ambassador of Syria to Iran, Szafik Dajub, assessed it entirely differently, considering it a "blatant and complete violation of all international conventions and norms".

On March 26, the portal Times of Israel reported, based on the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights headquartered in the United Kingdom, that at least nine pro-Iranian fighters, including their leader, died in strikes on a military facility in the eastern part of Syria. According to these reports, more than 20 people were injured. Earlier, in the second half of February, Syrian state news agencies reported at least two fatalities from an Israeli strike on military facilities in Damascus, likely used by Iranians.

Israel has been conducting attacks on targets in Syria for years, considered to be linked with Iran. The influence of Tehran in Syria has grown since Iran started supporting the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, which began in 2011. The Iranian authorities have repeatedly threatened to annihilate the state of Israel in the past.