Iran Denies Deaths of Its Advisors in Israeli Strikes on Damascus

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard denied the deaths of its advisors in the recent Israeli strike on Damascus airport. The spokesman for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Brigadier General Ramadan Sharif, stated that "claims by some media that advisors from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard were killed in the strike on Damascus airport are baseless and categorically rejected," as reported by the Iranian news agency "Mahr." Special sources had indicated that 11 leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed in the strike that targeted Damascus airport last Thursday evening. Sources from Al Arabiya reported that the commander of the Revolutionary Guard in eastern Syria, Nurt Rashid, was injured in the strike that targeted Damascus, noting that the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard in eastern Syria were welcoming a high-level delegation at Damascus airport. Sources within the Syrian army and intelligence had stated that Israel executed an airstrike targeting a main air defense base in southern Syria on Thursday evening, marking the latest such attack since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on October 7. Earlier, official Syrian media reported a Syrian military source stating that Israel executed "an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan targeting certain points in the southern region." The source added that "our air defense systems intercepted the aggression's missiles and shot down most of them, with losses limited to material damage." Later, official media reported a military source saying that Israel carried out a new "aggression" early Friday morning from the direction of Lebanese territory. The source indicated that the attack targeted several points around Damascus and resulted in some material damage. For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israeli missiles targeted the area of Damascus International Airport, as well as a point within a battalion belonging to air defense in the southern countryside of Sweida province.