Top Iranian commanders killed in Damascus airport strike - report

11 leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in an airstrike targeting Damascus International Airport on Thursday evening, Saudi media reported the following morning.

The commander of the Revolutionary Guards in eastern Syria, Nur Rashid, was injured in the airstrike, Saudi media channel Al-Hadath reported.

IRGC commanders were reportedly at the airport to meet with high-ranking delegates.

IRGC spokesman Sardar Ramzan Sharif denied on Friday reports that 11 of its leaders were killed in an airstrike in Damascus International Airport the night before, Iranian media quoted them as saying, as he said that such claims are "baseless."

Other strikes on Syria this week, foreign media also claims were done by Israel

Syrian media also claimed on Thursday evening that Israel had targeted sites in southern Syria and near Damascus with airstrikes in two separate waves. Syrian air defenses were activated in the Damascus area during the strikes. The country's media quoted one Syrian military source as saying that the alleged airstrike carried out by Israel came from the "occupied Syrian Golan Heights."

Earlier this week, Iran vowed that Israel would "pay" for the killing of Sayyed Reza Mousavi, another IRGC commander who was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike last Monday in the vicinity of Damascus.

Shortly after the strike that killed Mousavi occurred, footage on social media showed smoke near the Damascus airport, as Iranian proxies have often used the location.

Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.