Two Revolutionary Guards members killed by Israeli strike in Syria, says Iran

Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members serving as military advisers in Syria have been killed in an Israeli attack, Iranian state media has said.

Strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus came less than 24 hours after the end of a seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip, The Guardian reports.

“Two Syrian fighters working with Hezbollah and two IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) officers were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah sites near Sayyida Zeinab,” said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The two IRGC officers were the target of the Israelis. They struck immediately after the pair went into the Hezbollah site,” said the head of the Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria. The two officers died from their injuries, he said, adding that five other fighters were wounded.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Israel of killing two of its members. “Mohammed Ali Ataei Shoorcheh and Panah Taghizadeh … were martyred by the Zionist usurper enemy while conducting an advisory mission in the Syrian Islamic resistance front,” their Sepah News website said. It did not say when or where they were killed.

Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on its northern neighbour since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions. But it has intensified attacks since its war with Hamas began in October. Hamas last year said it had restored relations with Syria’s government.

Syria’s defence ministry also said Israel struck near Damascus, where an Agence-France Presse journalist heard the sound of bombings. “At approximately 1.35 am (2235 GMT) today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points near the city of Damascus,” the ministry said. It gave no casualty figures.

Syrian state television had reported “Israeli aggression near the capital”. The Israeli army did not comment when contacted by AFP.

On 8 November, Israeli airstrikes on the same area near Damascus killed three Hezbollah fighters as they hit sites belonging to the Lebanese group, the Observatory said.

Israeli airstrikes on 26 November rendered Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights resumed after a similar attack the month before. Damascus and Aleppo airports had both been put out of service after the Israeli strikes on 12 and 22 October.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, which backs the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to expand its presence there. Hezbollah is an ally of Damascus and has long fought alongside Assad in the country’s war.

A Revolutionary Guards statement did not give details of the attack. Syria earlier said its air defences had repelled an Israeli rocket attack against targets in the vicinity of Damascus early.