Iran blames Israel for Syria strike, vows revenge after 5 Guards die

livemint.com:

intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon -- both backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- raising fears that the Gaza conflict could expand further throughout the region. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it lost five members in the strike that it blamed on Israel, its regional arch-foe, updating an earlier toll from four. Hamas condemned what it called a "heinous crime".

In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani also accused Israel of being behind the attack and said Iran "reserves the right to respond to organised terrorism" at the appropriate time and place. Quoting an informed source, Iran's Mehr news agency said "the Revolutionary Guards' Syria intel chief" and his deputy were among those "martyred in the attack on Syria by Israel". Mehr later quoted the IRGC as saying a fifth member wounded in the strike had died.

ALSO READ: How the term “genocide" is misused in the Israel-Hamas war The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the Israeli strike on the Mazzeh neighbourhood of the capital killed 10 people. The Guards' Sepah news agency blamed the attack on the "evil and criminal Zionist regime (Israel)", and named four of those killed as Hojatollah Omidvar, Ali Aghazadeh, Hossein Mohammadi and Saeed Karimi. The mid-morning strike, which sent a large plume of smoke skywards, was also reported by Syrian state media.

Official news agency SANA said a residential building in Mazzeh had been targeted in what it called "an Israeli aggression". The defence ministry said the strike killed "a number of civilians". An AFP journalist said the building had been reduced to debris.