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Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has said he holds Israel responsible for the consequences of the attack on its consulate in Damascus, Reuters said that Iran’s state media reported.
The strike on the Iranian consulate is “a breach of all international conventions”, he told his Syrian counterpart in a phone call, it was reported.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israeli war planes destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, killing at least seven people. Iran’s ambassador to Syria, who had been working at the nearby embassy, said the consulate in the Syrian capital had been hit by six missiles launched by F-35 jets.
At least seven people were killed by the Damascus attack, including a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds force, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy Haji Rahimi. Five other Iranian officers were killed, the IRGC said.
Iran vowed revenge for the attack. Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said: “We consider this aggression to have violated all diplomatic norms and international treaties.” Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, said Iran’s response for the strike would be “at the same magnitude and harshness”.
The attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus came just days after Israel carried out its deadliest strikes in months on Syria’s Aleppo province, killing 53 people, including 38 soldiers and seven members of Hezbollah. Israel as a rule does not comment on its assassination strikes.
The Biden administration is close to approving a major new weapons sale to Israel worth more than $18bn that will include up to 50 US-made F-15 fighter jets, according to a report. The transaction would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
At least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed and 75,392 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday. There have been 63 Palestinians killed and 94 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.
Israeli forces announced their withdrawal from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza on Monday after a two-week raid, amid claims from Hamas that the Israel Defense Forces killed 400 people in the compound and allegations from the Palestinian Red Crescent of torture and “executions”.
Senior US and Israeli officials held a virtual meeting to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. “If they are going to move forward with a military operation, we have to have this conversation,” the White House said.
The meeting between senior US and Israeli officials came after Netanyahu called off a planned visit to Washington last week by a senior Israeli delegation after the US allowed passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN on Monday.
The Israeli parliament approved a law that grants senior ministers powers to shut down foreign news networks deemed a security risk, after its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged swift action to halt Al Jazeera’s activities in the nation. The White House described reports that Israel is trying to shut down Al Jazeera as “concerning”.
Reuters is also reporting that the Biden administration is considering a major $18bn package of arms transfers to Israel that would involve dozens of F-15 aircraft and munitions.
The sale of 25 F-15s from Boeing to Israel has been under review since the US received the formal request in January 2023, it said, citing sources.
The Biden administration is close to approving a major new weapons sale to Israel worth more than $18bn that will include up to 50 US-made F-15 fighter jets, according to a report.
The transaction would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza, CNN reported, citing sources.
It comes as the Biden administration is also expected to notify Congress soon of a large new sale of precision-guided munitions to Israel, it said.
The sale would include up to 50 new F-15 jets, 30 Aim-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, and a number of joint direct attack munition kits, which turn dumb bombs into precision-guided weapons, Politico reported.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, spoke with the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, today.
During the call, Blinken reiterated that the US “looks forward to working with the new PA cabinet to promote peace, security, and prosperity” and “emphasised that a revitalised PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza,” a statement from the US state department reads.
Blinken also stressed Washington “continues its urgent work of advancing a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal”, it said. The statement continued:
[Blinken] also underscored the US commitment to the realisation of the creation of an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel.
Israeli war planes have destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least seven people, including a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds force.
Here’s our video report:
Israeli war planes destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, killing at least seven people, including a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds force.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, said the consulate in the Syrian capital had been hit by six missiles launched by F-35 jets, killing seven people, including three military personnel.
Akbari, who had been working at the nearby embassy, vowed Iran would continue to support Palestinians in Gaza, and had no fear of the Israeli government.
An official statement by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) named the seven members who were killed in the consulate attack in Damascus.
The two senior Iranian commanders killed were:
Mohammad Reza Zahedi: commanded units from the Quds forces in Lebanon and Syria
Sardar Haji Rahimi: Zahedi’s deputy
Five Iranian officials were also killed in the attack, it said. They were named as:
Hossein Aman Elahi
Sayid Mehdi Jalalati
Mohsen Sedaghat
Ali Agha Babaei
Sayid Ali Salehi Roozbahani
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard has said seven of its members were killed in an airstrike that struck Iran’s consulate in Damascus.
Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) generals and five Iranian officers were killed in the attack on Monday, it said in a statement.
The two IRGC commanders have been named as Brig Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, Sardar Haji Rahimi.
The White House’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, has described reports that Israel is trying to shut down Al Jazeera as “concerning”.
Here’s a clip from the White House briefing earlier:
Iran has said several long-serving diplomats had been killed alongside Brig Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi in the attack.
Among those reported to be killed was Zahedi’s deputy, Sardar Haji Rahimi.
Monday afternoon’s strike removed a key figure in Iran’s military heirarchy. Zahedi commanded units from the Quds forces – the Guards’ clandestine foreign intelligence and paramilitary wing – in Lebanon and Syria and would have been a critical figure in Tehran’s relationship with Hezbollah and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
Zahedi would have been at the heart of the supply of Iranian-made missiles to Hezbollah, and was sanctioned by the US as long ago as 2010.
Previously, he had been head of Iran’s air force and ground forces, as well as playing a role in crushing the Iranian protests in 2019.