Israeli strike hits building with ‘Iran-aligned leaders’ in Syria

"An Israeli missile strike targeted a four-storey building, killing five people… and destroying the whole building where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A residential building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Syria’s capital Damascus was hit by a suspected Israeli strike on Saturday, January 20, with initial reports suggesting that several people were killed.

The Mazzeh neighborhood is home to several diplomatic missions, including the Lebanese and Iranian embassies.

“An Israeli missile strike targeted a four-storey building, killing five people… and destroying the whole building where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The British-based organization with sources in Syria stated that the area hit by the attack is recognized as a heavily guarded zone housing leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and pro-Iranian Palestinian groups.

“They were for sure targeting senior members of those groups,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

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Last month, an Israeli airstrike in a suburb of Damascus resulted in the death of Iranian general Seyed Razi Mousavi, a long-time advisor of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria.

This event occurred amid escalating tensions in the region, including the Israeli offensive on Gaza. 

The strike comes in the context of ongoing fears of the Israel-Hamas conflict sparking a regional spillover, and it is part of a series of Israeli attacks on what it describes as Iran-linked targets in Syria.

The Israeli military has not officially commented on the incident, but it has been reported that Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria, often targeting Iran-backed groups that have supported the Assad government.