ER Editor:The Cradle‘s initial report on the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus lies below. Here is an overnight update via Zerohedge, followed by tweets —
Update(1838ET): Monitors cited in AFP report the death toll from Monday’s Israeli air strike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus has risen to 11. “The death toll from the Israeli strikes on the Iranian embassy annex has risen to 11: eight Iranians, two Syrians and one Lebanese — all of them fighters, none of them civilians,” AFP quoted the war monitor as saying.
Regional and international reaction came hours later, with Lebanese Hezbollah — a close ally of Iran — vowing that Israel will be “punished” for the attack. As we detailed earlier (below), several top IRGC commanders were killed in the strike at a moment a high-level military meeting was taking place.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry reacted as follows: “We strongly condemn this attack on the Iranian consular office in Syria. We consider any attacks on diplomatic and consular facilities, the inviolability of which is guaranteed by the relevant Vienna Conventions, to be categorically unacceptable.” …
Among the slain in Monday’s attack was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a top commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who reportedly oversaw Quds Forces operations in Syria and Lebanon. Clearly Israeli’s intelligence capabilities are significant regarding Iranian movements and operations inside Syria, given Israel clearly knew the where and when of the top level meeting.
Abou Mahdi Zahedi, Iran’s top general in Syria and Lebanon, has been confirmed killed by Iranian state sources.
A strike like this — against an embassy which is supposed to be ‘protected’ by international diplomatic norms upheld by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations — is somewhat unprecedented and so marks a massive escalation by Israel.
At the request of Russia, the United Nations Security Council will hold an open session regarding Israel’s attack on Iran’s diplomatic facility in Syria on April 2 , said Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky. pic.twitter.com/TilHyH8v1P
— S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) April 2, 2024
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#Israel‘s strike in #Damascus today is a huge development & a major escalation.
It is not only #Iran who will undoubtedly respond to what just happened in #Damascus but #Russia too cannot continue to allow such savage violations of the sovereignty of its 50 year ally #Syria Keep an eye on the #GolanHeights
— George Galloway MP (@georgegalloway) April 1, 2024
Do you know that the embassy of each country is considered a part of that country’s territory? Attacking the embassy means trespassing. The war will enter a new phase.#دمشق#Israel#Damascuspic.twitter.com/N1jJCGdOXH
“This is a huge escalation,” RT talks to independent investigative journalist Vanessa Beeley, who is based in #Damascus, about the alleged Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate pic.twitter.com/JeBXnvou9n
#BREAKING: The #Israel Air Force used Rampage air-launched ballistic missile (precision artillery rocket) to destroy a building in use of #IRGC Quds Force next to #Iranian embassy building in #Damascus minutes ago. Several senior officers of the Quds Force & #Hezbollah terrorists… pic.twitter.com/odn51Po1mK
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) April 1, 2024
It’s just our two cents, but it feels strongly that, at the end of all this insanity, starting with October 7 last year, Israel will no longer exist.
‘We’re saving Israel for last’.
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Israel airstrike ‘flattens’ Iranian consulate in Damascus
The strike killed at least seven Iranian diplomats in what amounts to a major escalation of the war against Iran and the Axis of Resistance
CRADLE NEWS DESK
APR 1, 2024
Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April, killing and injuring several Iranian diplomats in what is viewed as a significant escalation of the regional war between Israel and the Axis of Resistance.
“Around 17:00 this afternoon, the ‘Israeli’ enemy launched an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus. Our air defenses confronted the enemy’s missiles, downing some of them,” the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced Monday.
Smoke rises after a strike, which Iranian media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) have attributed to Israel, on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, April 1, 2024. (Photo credit: Firas Makdesi / Reuters)
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The ministry added that “The aggression resulted in the complete destruction of the building and the martyrdom and injury of everyone inside. Efforts are underway to recover the bodies of the martyrs, provide aid to the wounded, and remove the debris.”
Iran’s Ambassador to Damascus, Hossein Akbari, confirmed the Israeli attack targeted the consular section of the embassy building, which lies on sovereign Iranian territory, with six missiles.
🇸🇾🇮🇷 Scenes showing damage to the Iranian embassy building after the building adjacent to it was targeted, in Damascus
ETA: The building was part of the consular staff wing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus pic.twitter.com/0VzyzWYUbN
Akbari said seven people were killed in the strike, but the names and the exact number of dead have yet to be specified.
He promised a “harsh response,” explaining that, “This regime has no respect for international laws,” he added. “We will support the resistant nation [of Palestine] and have no fear of the criminality of this regime.”
Reutersclaimed that according to a Lebanese security source, one of the dead was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Reuters reported that the consulate, located in the Mezzeh district of the Syrian capital, had been “flattened.” Emergency vehicles were parked outside, and the Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers were spotted at the scene.
An Israeli military spokesperson refused to comment.
Israel is facing a war on multiple fronts against Axis of Resistance members from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Political analyst Amal Saad observed that “Israel’s killing of a very senior IRGC commander in Syria, along with others inside the Iranian Consulate, appears less about employing the ‘Madman Theory’ to intimidate and deter its adversaries, and more about deliberately embracing a strategy of chaotic warfare to escalate and expand the scope of the conflict so that the US will be forced to directly enter the war.” (ER: We’re not sure about the ‘so that’ part. Why hasn’t US military might not been successful in stopping Yemeni attacks on ships entering the Red Sea to service Israel?)
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Smoke rises after a strike, which Iranian media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) have attributed to Israel, on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, April 1, 2024. (Photo credit: Firas Makdesi / Reuters)
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