Iranian government media report that a Revolutionary Guard “advisor”, Saeed (Saeid) Abyar was killed in an Israeli air strike near Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria early Monday.
Earlier in the day, Syrian state media reported that an unknown number of people were killed in an Israeli air strike.
Abyar’s rank is not clear, but the his designation as an advisor points to his likely high rank as an officer in the IRGC.
Iran claims its forces in Syria are advisors invited by the Syrian government, while since 2011 it has sent thousands of Iran, Afghan, Iraq and Pakistani militias to fight to defend President Bashar al-Assad against his opponents in the country’s civil war.
This was the second reported attack on the country in less than a week, following a string of air strikes since the October 7 Hamas invasion of Israel. Some sources said the targets were affiliated with Iranian-backed forces in the region. Israel usually does not comment about its air strikes in Syria.
The strikes at around 12:20 a.m. early Monday (2120 GMT on Sunday) “led to a number of fatalities and some material damage”, the source said, without elaborating. Independent sources have not reported more details so far.
A devastating air strike on April 1 flattened a building in the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, where two senior Revolutionary Guard generals and five other officers died. Reportedly, these individuals were involved in operations aimed at intensifying attacks on Israel. This led to a massive Iranian missile and drone retaliatory attack against Israel on April 13, which inflicted minimal damage. Most projectiles were shot down.
