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Israeli strike in Syria kills Iranian commander, Iran says

Getty Images Syrian air defence batteries respond to what the Syrian state media said were Israeli missiles targeting Damascus in January 2019Getty Images
Israel's strikes on Syria have increased in frequency since 7 October.

A senior Iranian commander was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Syria. Iranian media say.

Seyyed Razi Mousavi was "an experienced military adviser" to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.

It says he was killed in an air strike on the Sayyida Zeinab area south-east of Damascus.

Israel has carried out military strikes in Syria for years, against what it says are Iran-linked targets.

The strikes have increased in frequency over the past months following Hamas' attack on 7 October.

Iranian forces have been present in Syria since the early stages of the Syrian civil war, where they helped support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against widespread rebellion to his rule.

Mousavi is said to have been an aide to IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the US in 2020.

He was one of most senior IRGC operatives in Syria, according to Tasnim, and helped co-ordinate the relationship between Tehran and Damascus.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that Israel would "pay for this crime".

There has been no immediate comment from Israel's military, which rarely discusses cross-border strikes.

Earlier this month, Iran accused Israel of killing two members of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria.