TEHRAN, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian officer serving as a military adviser in Syria was killed in an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital of Damascus on Friday, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The officer, identified as Saeid Alidadi, was a member of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the report said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said three members of pro-Iranian groups, including an Iranian and an Iraqi, were killed in the Israeli strikes.

The strikes hit targets including a site operated by Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite militant group, near the southern Sayyida Zeinab district of Damascus, and a site near the Damascus airport that had been vacated by pro-Iranian groups, the observatory said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Defense Ministry said Israeli warplanes attacked several sites south of Damascus early Friday, causing material damage. It said Syrian air defenses intercepted some of the missiles and prevented further damage, adding the attack came from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Iran has sent military advisers to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, targeting what it says are Iran-linked targets.

Last month, the IRGC said five of its officers were killed in an Israeli missile strike on a residential area in Damascus.

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)