Iran's Revolutionary Guard officer killed in Israeli airstrikes in Damascus

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - A member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in Israeli airstrikes that pounded suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus early on Friday, the military branch said in a statement.

The slain officer was identified as Milad Heydari, an IRGC "military adviser" who the IRGC public relations division said was killed in a "criminal attack."

It did not divulge further details about the slain officer or any other Iranian casualties in the attack.

The IRGC condemned what it called "silence and inaction" of the international community toward "repeated aggression" and "continued violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity" of the Arab country by Israel, warning response to the attack.

For the second day in a row, Israel staged fresh airstrikes on the suburbs of Damascus early Friday, according to Syria's state news agency.

It said Syrian air defenses "confronted hostile targets," adding that some of the missiles were shot down.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a separate statement, said the strikes targeted arms depots used by Syrian regime forces and Iran-linked groups south of Damascus.

Israel's military rarely comments on its armed operations in Syria, but has on many occasions confirmed strikes on Iran-backed groups and fighters in the Arab country.

In November last year, Col. Daoud Jafari, a senior officer in the IRGC’s aerospace division, was killed in a roadside bomb explosion on the outskirts of Damascus.

The IRGC at the time blamed Israel for carrying out the attack and vowed a response.

Before that, in March 2022, two IRGC officers were killed in an airstrike on the outskirts of Damascus, which was followed by Iran targeting what it called "Israeli facilities" in Erbil in northern Iraq.

Iran, which supports Bashar al-Assad in Syria, maintains an extensive military presence in the country, which often comes under American and Israeli airstrikes.