January 20, 2024, 08:43 GMT
Updated 28 minutes ago
Image source: Getty Images
image description,
People and security forces gather in front of a building destroyed in an explosion in Damascus on Saturday
Four high-ranking members of the Iranian security forces were killed in a suspected airstrike on the Syrian capital.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed Israel for the attack, which it said killed four military advisers and several Syrian forces.
Israel has not commented. It has been carrying out attacks on Iran-linked targets in Syria for years.
Such attacks have increased since the war between Israel and Gaza began following Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7.
Senior figures in the Revolutionary Guard – a major military, political and economic force in Iran – have been present in Syria since the civil war there began in 2011, helping to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime against widespread rebellion against his rule.
Saturday's attack is believed to have taken place in the Mazzeh district of southwest Damascus, an area containing a military airport as well as the UN headquarters in Damascus, embassies and restaurants.
A local resident told AFP he saw “explosions” in the western Mazzeh area and “a big cloud of smoke.”
“The sound resembled a rocket explosion and minutes later I heard the sound of ambulances,” he added.
Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency said the attacks killed the head of Syria's IRGC intelligence service, his deputy and two other Guard members.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency quoted a military source as saying it had managed to stop some of the rockets but that the attacks had killed some people and “injured a number of civilians.” Buildings were also destroyed, it was said.
Videos, which the BBC did not verify, showed a large cloud of smoke and destroyed buildings.
The Middle East has been on heightened alert since October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,300 people, mostly civilians, and returned 240 hostages to Gaza. It is believed that more than 132 hostages are still being held in the area.
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, more than 24,900 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel's military response began. Israel says its ground and air operation in Gaza is aimed at destroying Hamas.
The conflict has raised concerns that a larger war could spread across the region, particularly between bitter rivals Israel and Iran and amid a series of overlapping crises.
Israel is targeting the Tehran-backed Palestinian group Hamas. It is also engaged in a shootout with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria are also attacking US forces in the region, and the US and Britain have attacked the Houthis – another Iranian-backed group – in Yemen, which have attacked ships in the Red Sea.
Fears of a wider conflict were heightened this week when Iran traded blows with its neighbor Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Iran admitted carrying out a missile and drone attack in southwestern Pakistan that killed two children, saying the attack targeted an “Iranian terrorist group” in Pakistan.
Days later, Islamabad retaliated, launching attacks it said targeted “terrorist hideouts” in southeastern Iran, killing nine people.
Although both sides insisted they were targeting militant bases in each other's countries, Iran and Pakistan withdrew their ambassadors from their respective capitals.
But after talks, diplomatic relations were restored.