Jeffrey Mabry
Iranian state media are reporting that an Israeli air strike has targeted the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus.
Several diplomats were reportedly killed in the attack.
The Reuters news agency says a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, is among the dead.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr is monitoring the latest developments in Beirut.
Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project, says Israel’s alleged attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria is “akin to targeting another country on its own soil”.
“Overall this seems to still be a low-simmer regional war. It’s not yet an all-out regional conflict, but it does appear that Israel is trying to do everything in its power to expand the conflict,” Vaez told Al Jazeera.
“[This] puts Israel in a win-win situation because Israel knows Iran doesn’t want to get dragged into a regional war, so if it escalates its attacks against Iranian assets and personnel in Syria, it probably will be cost free, and if Iran does respond and retaliate, then it becomes a justified pretext for expanding the war.”
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