Iranian Guards' Syria spy chief among four killed in Israeli strikes

Iranian Revolutionary Guards' spy chief for Syria, his deputy, and two other members were killed on January 20 after an alleged Israeli missile struck a multi-story residential building in the capital Damascus city.

An official with an Iran-backed group in the Middle East told The Associated Press that the building was allegedly used by Iranian advisers supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and that it was entirely flattened by “precision-targeted Israeli missiles”.

Israel is yet to confirm the reports.

The IRGC in a brief statement said that an air strike by Israeli fighter jets killed “a number of Syrian forces and four military advisers”.

Iranian media claimed that Israel launched at least four missiles towards the Mazzeh neighborhood, believed to be a high-security zone and home to the United Nations’ headquarters and embassies.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that several civilians also lost their lives in the morning attack. Iranian state television called it a “terrorist” attack by Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said that it "reserves its right to respond to the organised terrorism of the fake Zionist regime at the appropriate time and place."

Saturday's attack came days after Iran fired missiles at what it said was Israeli “spy headquarters” in an upscale neighborhood near the sprawling US Consulate compound in Erbil city of Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

(With inputs from agencies)