At least 11 people were killed in the Israeli strike against the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, according to the latest tally released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The toll of Israeli strikes on the consular office of the Iranian embassy is 11 dead: eight Iranians, two Syrians and one Lebanese,” Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based NGO with a wide network of sources in Syria, told AFP. . He clarified that there are no civilians among the dead.

Earlier, Tehran declared that Israel will bear the responsibility for the consequences of the attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Iran’s state media reported, citing statements by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in a telephone conversation with the Syrian his counterpart.

Iran’s ambassador to Damascus, Hossein Akbari, assured that his country “will respond decisively” to the strike that killed at least seven members of the Revolutionary Guards, including two special forces commanders. The building was “hit by six missiles fired by F-35 fighters,” Akbari told reporters.

The missile attack almost completely destroyed the consular office located right next to the Iranian embassy building, on the facade of which there is a huge portrait of General Soleimani, the architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East who was killed by a US drone in Iraq in January of 2020.

Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since the neighboring country’s civil war broke out 13 years ago, mostly targeting Iranian-backed forces and Syrian army positions. It has escalated attacks since the start of the war with Hamas on October 7, as tensions rise across the wider Middle East region.

Israel rarely comments on strikes in Syria on a case-by-case basis, but has repeatedly stressed that it will not allow Iran – which backs the government of President Bashar al-Assad – to build up its presence in the neighboring country.