Neubauer Coporation Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
In Damascus, two generals of Iran’s elite military Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy.
Among the dead are one of the key commanders of the Iranian special forces, the Quds Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, his deputy, Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Rahimi and five of their colleagues. In Iran they were called military advisers in Syria.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense reported that Israeli planes struck from the Golan Heights. Syrian air defenses are said to have shot down several Israeli missiles. Two embassy guards were wounded in the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian called the attack on the consular department “a violation of all possible international conventions.” Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran “reserves the right to take retaliatory action to the attack.” Israel did not comment on the attack.
A video showing the first moments after an Israeli airstrike on the building next to the Iranian embassy in Damascus. https://t.co/RYvZlrO9VZ pic.twitter.com/gzAiXcyA2U
— Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@alihashem_tv) April 1, 2024
In 2020, the head of the Al-Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, was killed in Baghdad as a result of a US missile strike. This led to a sharp escalation of the situation in the region. Pro-Iranian groups attacked American military bases several times, Tehran refused to comply with restrictions on the nuclear deal, which placed the Iranian nuclear program under international control.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has significant influence over Iran’s politics and economy. Formally part of the army, the corps has its own troops, including air and sea forces, controls the Iranian missile program and is subordinate not to the country’s president, but to its religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
US authorities have designated the Corps a terrorist organization. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Biden’s team is “studying the issue” of the events in Damascus, Voice of America reports.
The name of General Mohammad Reza Zahedi was included in the so-called UN “ black list ” of 15 senior military and political figures in Iran suspected of involvement in the development of Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs.
OFFICIAL IRANIAN PRESS RELEASE
Notice of the IRGC about the martyrdom of Generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi
The office of Public Relations of Iran Revolutionary Guards announce throughout this report the martyrdom of advisors Sardar Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi and five of their companions in the terrorist crime of the Zionist regime in the missile attack on the consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus.
The public relations of the IRGC announced in a notice that Generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi and five of their companions were martyred in the terrorist crime of the Zionist regime in the missile attack on the consulate building of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus.
The text of this announcement is as follows:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious
The Most Merciful, and do not consider those who were killed in the way of Allah, the dead. Rather, they will be resurrected with their Lord
Following the irreparable defeats of the Zionist wolf regime against the Palestinian resistance and the resistance of the people of Gaza and the defeat of the steel will of the fighters of the Islamic Resistance Front in the region, a few hours ago (on Monday evening, 13 April 1403), the planes of this fake regime were involved in a crime. The new building of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Consulate in Damascus was targeted by a missile attack, which resulted in the attack on the commanders, veterans and veterans of the holy defense, and the commanders, veterans and veterans of the holy defense, “Pasdar Brigadier Mohammad Reza Zahedi” and “Pasdar Brigadier Mohammad Reza Zahedi” Iran’s senior military officers in Syria and 5 of their accompanying officers were martyred as follows:
1. Martyr Hossein Amanollahi
2. Martyr Seyed Mahdi Jalalati
3. Shahid Mohsen Sadaqat
4. Martyr Ali Agha Babaei
5. Martyr Syed Ali Salehi Rozbahani
The IRGC Strongly condemns this crime and congratulates and condoles the martyrdom of the precious martyrs in the presence of the Supreme Leader and Commander-in-Chief of the Supreme Leader Imam Khamenei (may God bless him and grant him peace), his noble families and comrades, and members of the noble and appreciative nation of Islamic Iran; The plans for the transfer, funeral and burial of the holy body of the martyrs will be announced later