What Happened In Damascus On April 1? Airstrike Behind Iran’s First Direct Attack On Israel 

Iran-Israel Conflict: On Monday, April 1, Iranian state TV showed visuals of smoke and dust rising from rubble of a building with the Iranian flag hanging from a pole amid the debris. Iran claimed the building was its embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, it was flattened after an airstrike by Israel. It vowed a retaliation as the attack killed at least 13 people, mostly its military advisers and senior commanders, as reported by the international media. 

Israel had been on a high alert since, and Iran’s Saturday attack on the country was on expected lines, even though unprecedented. While Iran has for decades backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has launched strikes on Israel several times in the past, this was the first time Iran has attacked Israel from its own territory, marking a massive escalation in the war situation in Gaza and around.  

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What Happened On April 1?

Hossein Akbari, Iran’s ambassador to Syria, was quoted as saying in media reports that the airstrike hit a consular building on the embassy premises, and that his own residence was on the top two floors of the building.

According to Akbari, the consulate building was hit by six missiles fired from F-35 jets.

It was reported that the ambassador was at work at the embassy when the consulate was attacked.   

“We strongly condemn this atrocious terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed a number of innocents,” Reuters quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as saying.

In its initial statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said as many as seven Iranian military advisers were killed in the strike. The deceased included Mohammad Reza Zahedi, senior commander in the Quds Force, a foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of IRGC working in Lebanon and Syria. The US had imposed sanctions on him long ago in 2010.

Zahedi was a key figure in the military hierarchy of Iran, who was stated to have been facilitating the supply of Iranian-made missiles to Hezbollah.

He had also headed Iran’s air force and ground forces, and reportedly played a big role in containing the 2019 civilian unrest in Iran.

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Iran Vowed To Retaliate

Soon after the attack, Akbari had said Iran was not scared of Israel and would continue to support the Palestinian cause. Announcing an all-out conflict with Israel, he said Iran’s response to the audacious strike would come “at the same magnitude and harshness”.

“We consider this aggression to have violated all diplomatic norms and international treaties. Benjamin Netanyahu has completely lost his mental balance due to the successive failures in Gaza and his failure to achieve his Zionist goals,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying. 

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to “punish” Israel and President Ebrahim Raisi said the attack would “not go unanswered”, as reported by state news agency IRNA.

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Israel-Iran Latest Update

Israel has said more than 300 drones and missiles were launched at it from Iran, Iraq and Yemen, though the majority of them were intercepted.

After Iran launched the direct attack Saturday, the US immediately jumped into the scene and pledged an “ironclad” support for Tel Aviv defence. President Joe Biden said: “Iran—and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq—launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel. I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms.”

Biden also called on the G7 countries for a “united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack”, and said the US “will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people”.

The IRGC said earlier today that it can launch more and deadlier attacks on Israel “if required”, because Iran supports the Palestinians against Israeli onslaught. The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Mohammad Baqeri, however, said later they do not plan to continue the operation against Israel, which they believe has been “successfully completed”.