Europe 1 with AFP 7:10 p.m., April 1, 2024
An unprecedented Israeli raid targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, state media reported, killing eight people according to an NGO, in an extremely tense regional context against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.
This is the fifth raid in eight days to target Syria, where Iran and its allies support the power of Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Defense Ministry reported several deaths and injuries in the Israeli raid on the Iranian embassy annex in Damascus.
“The Israeli enemy launched airstrikes from the occupied Golan, targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus,” the ministry said. He added that the strike had "completely destroyed the building", located in Mazzeh, a neighborhood that houses embassies and United Nations buildings.
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“All those inside were killed or injured,” the ministry continued. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) for its part reported eight deaths in this raid.
“Israeli missiles destroyed the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy in Damascus,” according to this NGO based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in the country. In Tehran, Iranian state media confirmed that an Israeli strike had destroyed an annex to the Iranian embassy in Syria.
The ambassador unharmed
Iran's Nour news agency added that "Hossein Akbari, ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Damascus, and his family were not injured in the Israeli attack." An AFP correspondent on site confirmed that the embassy annex building had been completely destroyed by the strike.
AFP photos show the building completely destroyed, reduced to a state of ruin. Not far from the scene, dozens of men gathered in front of the scene. An ambulance is on site.
Israel rarely comments on its strikes in Syria
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in neighboring Syria against Syrian government positions, pro-Iranian groups, such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iranian military targets since the start of the war in that country in 2011.
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The strikes have intensified since the start on October 7 of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah and Iran, enemies of Israel. At the same time, Israeli strikes target Hezbollah officials in Lebanon, from where the pro-Iranian Shiite formation carries out attacks against Israel.
Israel rarely comments on its strikes in Syria but says it would not allow Iran, its sworn enemy, to gain a foothold on its border.