Second IRGC adviser dead in third airstrike in Syria in a week
Initial reports indicated that the Dabaa airbase near al-Qusayr was targeted by the strike.
A military adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps died of his injuries after an alleged Israeli air strike near Syria's capital, Iranian semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday.
Israel has for years carried out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that began in 2011.
Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus. Dozens of Revolutionary Guards members including senior officers have been killed in Syria during the war.
"Meqdad Meqdani was wounded during the Zionist attack on Friday dawn and was martyred," Mehr news said.
Initial reports indicated that the Dabaa airbase near al-Qusayr was targeted by the strike.
A Syrian military source told the Syrian state news agency SANA that the strikes were carried out from over Lebanon and five Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes.
On Thursday night, an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser to Syria was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus.
The adviser was identified as Milad Heydari. "The fake and criminal Zionist regime will undoubtedly receive a response to this crime," warned the IRGC.
That airstrike was the second to hit the Damascus area in 24 hours. On Wednesday night, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the Damascus area as well, with Syrian state media reporting two Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes.
The opposition Capital Voice news site reported that the strikes on Wednesday night targeted an air defense base and a moving target on a highway south of Damascus believed to be the convoy of a "foreign figure" on its way to the Kafr Souseh neighborhood. Iranian and Hezbollah forces are known to operate in that neighborhood.
After the strikes, fires were reported in the al-Midan and Kafr Souseh neighborhoods. It is unclear if the fires were caused directly by the strikes or by shrapnel from Syrian air defense missiles, as Syrian air defense missiles occasionally fall short.
Recent airstrikes attributed to Israel
Earlier in March, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted an airport in Aleppo, damaging buildings at the site. A little over a week before that strike, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted a structure in Masyaf.
In February, an alleged Israeli airstrike targeted the Kafr Souseh neighborhood, with at least five people killed in that strike. The Capital Voice site reported that the building hit in the strike belongs to businessman Fadel Balawi, the owner of the Al-Fadhel Monsey Transfer Company, affiliated with Hezbollah. The building was reportedly used as a warehouse and logistical support center for the militias.
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