Limor Simhony Philpott

How will Iran respond to Israel’s assassination in Damascus?

Two senior IRGC officials were killed in the attack in Syria's capital Damascus (Credit: Getty images)

Last night, six missiles fired from an Israeli F-35 combat aircraft hit and destroyed a building belonging to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. At the time, a meeting between high-ranking members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were taking place. The attack resulted in the death of two IRGC generals: Mohammad Reza Zahedi who was leader of the Quds force – the IRGC force in Syria and Lebanon – and his deputy, Sardar Haji Rahimi. It is reported that at least five other IRGC officers were killed in what is one of Israel’s most successful assassinations of senior Iranian commanders.

This was a risk that Israel was willing to take in order to eliminate two high-ranking commanders

The attack that killed the Iranian generals happened on the same day that a drone launched by an Iranian militia in Iraq exploded in an Israeli naval base in the southern city of Eilat causing no casualties and little damage.

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