Iran said on Monday that an airstrike by Israel on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus resulted in the deaths of two of its generals and numerous other people.

According to Iranian state media, the structure was nearly completely destroyed by Israeli F-35 rockets, which also claimed the lives of at least seven members of the Quds Force, the elite overseas wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranian embassy annexe was destroyed by the airstrike, according to Syrian official television.

Israel has not yet responded to the airstrike, but according to Israeli media, Israel has put several embassies on high alert worldwide after Iran openly accused Israel and threatened to retaliate.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi was the top military advisor killed in Monday’s airstrike, according to Iranian media. Five other people were also murdered in the explosion, including with his deputy, a commander in the IRGC.

Zahedi would have been the highest ranking Iranian commander to be killed since the start of the Gaza War. He served as Iran’s principal point of contact with Hezbollah, an armed group based in Lebanon that receives funding from Tehran and has been battling Israel across the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Throughout the majority of the 1980s, Zahedi, who was in his 60s, commanded the elite Iranian military throughout the conflict between Iran and Iraq. Iran said that he went on to serve as the air force and ground commander for the IRGC.

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, stated Monday’s

Since Hamas, a Palestinian militant organisation with significant Iranian assistance, attacked Israel in October, Israel has been conducting a military incursion in the Gaza Strip. According to Israel, 1,200 people died in the attack on October 7.

In retaliation for that act, Israel invaded Gaza, killing around 32,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel has increased its airstrikes against Iranian and Hezbollah sites in Syria since the beginning of the Gaza War.

It’s one of the developments that many nations have worried could turn the Gaza War into something more serious.

Iran claimed at the outset of the Gaza War that it was unaware of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

Despite the fact that Hamas is a Sunni organisation and Iran is a Shia Muslim nation, the two have formed relationships and are thought to work together on Iranian proxy strikes against Israeli targets.

Hezbollah, an associated militia of Iran, is the most potent force in Lebanon. Since the beginning of the conflict, the group has fought Israel across their shared borders in an effort to draw Israeli military attention away from the Gaza War.

Thus far, both Iran and Hezbollah have shown reluctance to initiate a full-scale conflict with Israel over that border. However, one possible form of retribution would be more Hezbollah strikes.

Additionally, Iran backs many Iraqi militias that have targeted American forces stationed in the area since the beginning of the Gaza War, killing three of them.