Iran says Israel killed top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders in Syria

Iran said Monday that Israeli airstrikes hit a building next to its consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing at least seven people, including two top-tier Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi "was martyred as a result of the Zionist regime's air attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Telegram, as translated.

Less than an hour later, the military force said that the same strike also killed Brig. Gen. Hossein Amirullah, who was described as Zahedi's successor and head of the general staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria and Lebanon.

Additionally, Zahedi's close friend Sardar Rahimi was killed. The identities of the casualties are unclear. 

Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari pledged that the Islamic Republic would respond to the strike.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the airstrike, but the country has a tense relationship with Iran, which has vowed to destroy Israel and has funded anti-Israel terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

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