Syria says an Israeli air strike has destroyed Iran’s consulate building in Damascus
Israel is seeking to weaken the “line of control” from Tehran to its so-called proxy militias abroad by killing senior Iranian military figures, says an ex-MI6 chief.
Sir John Sawers, the former head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, made the remark after suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders.
The attack marked a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries and comes four years after Iran’s most powerful military commander, Gen Qasem Soleimani, was killed by a US air strike in Iraq.
“Looking back at the assassination of Qasem Soleimani four years ago that has had a wider impact on weakening Iran than was originally assessed,” Sir John told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think the Israelis believe that by taking out senior Iranian commanders they can undermine that line of control between Tehran and the so-called proxy militias, Hezbollah and those in Syria.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.
It is accused by the West of fuelling terrorism abroad.
Israel is operating all over the Middle East to exact a price from those who threaten it, the country’s defence minister said on Tuesday, though he did not refer directly to the suspected Israeli air strike in Damascus.
“We are currently in a multi-front war – we see evidence of this every day, including over the last few days,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told a parliamentary committee, according to a statement from his office. [Continue reading…]