Seven pro-Iranian soldiers were killed in the attack.
By Avraham Shusteris, World Israel News
In an unusual daytime strike, Israel reportedly conducted an air attack on Monday afternoon targeting the Syrian operational headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force.
According to Syrian state media, several Iranian advisors were killed in the attack which was blamed on Israel.
The attack took place in Sayyeda Zeinab, a predominantly Shiite town located in southern Damascus.
According to Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, seven pro-Iranian military personnel were killed in the attack.
As soon as reports emerged about the alleged attack, Hossein Akbari, Iran’s ambassador to Syria, denied the reports.
“In today’s attack by the Zionist regime’s fighters on the southern edge of Damascus city, no advisory center of the Islamic Republic of Iran was targeted, nor were any Iranian citizens or advisors martyred.”
He continued, “The blind attacks of the Zionists do not disturb the determination of the resistance axis.”
Monday’s attack happened less than one kilometer away from the location of where senior IRGC official Razi Mousavi and other high ranking IRGC officials were eliminated only a few weeks ago by another apparent Israeli strike.
The town in which the attack took place, Sayyeda Zeinab, is significant because it has become known as the “launching point for Shiitization in Syria” according to a 2014 report in the Syrian Observer.
Iran has been working to spread Shi’ite Islam in Syria to further its influence and power in the Levant.
Sayedda Zeinab serves as the focal point of this effort due to the fact that it holds one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Shiites, the tomb of Zeinab, granddaughter of the prophet Mohammed.
Iran has used this tomb and its surrounding areas as a base for Shiite proselytization.
Significant efforts have been made by Iran to purchase land around Sayyeda Zeinab and encourage and facilitate migration of Iraqi Shiite and other pro-Shiite groups to the area.