PM:03:42:31/03/2023
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SULAIMANI — A member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) was killed in Israeli airstrikes that pounded suburbs of the
Syrian capital Damascus early on Friday (March 31), the military branch said in
a statement.
The slain officer was identified as Milad Heydari, an IRGC
"military adviser" who the IRGC public relations division said was
killed in a "criminal attack."
It did not divulge further details about the slain officer
or any other Iranian casualties in the attack.
The IRGC condemned what it called "silence and
inaction" of the international community toward "repeated
aggression" and "continued violation of sovereignty and territorial
integrity" of the Arab country by Israel, warning response to the attack.
For the second day in a row, Israel staged fresh airstrikes
on the suburbs of Damascus early Friday, according to Syria's state news
agency.
It said Syrian air defenses "confronted hostile
targets," adding that some of the missiles were shot down.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a
separate statement, said the strikes targeted arms depots used by Syrian regime
forces and Iran-linked groups south of Damascus.
Israel's military rarely comments on its armed operations in
Syria, but has on many occasions confirmed strikes on Iran-backed groups and
fighters in the Arab country.
In November last year, Col. Daoud Jafari, a senior officer
in the IRGC’s aerospace division, was killed in a roadside bomb explosion on
the outskirts of Damascus.
The IRGC at the time blamed Israel for carrying out the
attack and vowed a response.
Before that, in March 2022, two IRGC officers were killed in
an airstrike on the outskirts of Damascus, which was followed by Iran targeting
what it called "Israeli facilities" in Erbil in northern Iraq.
Iran, which supports Bashar al-Assad in Syria, maintains an
extensive military presence in the country, which often comes under American
and Israeli airstrikes.
(NRT Digital Media/AA)