The Bloomberg television network has reported that in the attack attributed to Israel at the Iranian consulate in Syria, the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hierarchy responsible for the activities of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria and Lebanon was killed.

According to the report, “the senior officers were pivotal for Hezbollah’s activities in the region.” General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, Mohammad Hadi Rahimi, along with other officers who were killed, were certain that the consulate building next to the embassy was “the safest” in Damascus and that Israel would not dare to attack the site.

As per the report, before the airstrike on the consulate building in Damascus, the residences of the ambassador and the consul were supposed to be transferred to a new apartment complex further down the same street, where the two brothers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also live. Shortly before the attack, the senior ranking officials of the IRGC in Syria met on the second floor of the consulate building and decided to stay there.

The strike at the Iranian consulate in Syria led Iran to directly attack Israel.