Death of a Senior IRGC Commander in Israeli Attack on Damascus Suburb in Syria

On Tuesday, December 25, Tasnim News Agency reported the death of 'Seyyed Reza Mousavi, known as Seyyed Reza, one of the veteran advisors of the IRGC in Syria' in an Israeli attack on the Zainabiyah area in the suburbs of Damascus. This news agency, close to the IRGC, described the deceased as 'one of the oldest advisors of the IRGC in Syria and a companion of Qassem Soleimani.' Tasnim added that it would publish further details about the number of casualties and injuries from this attack. Al-Mayadeen, a news agency affiliated with Hezbollah in Lebanon, also confirmed the death of this 'high-ranking IRGC commander' as a result of the Israeli attack. Israeli media referred to Seyyed Reza Mousavi as 'the highest-ranking member of the IRGC after Qassem Soleimani who was deliberately killed.' Hours earlier, reports emerged of an Israeli attack on the Sayyida Zainab neighborhood in Damascus. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the deadly attack on Tuesday was the 70th Israeli attack on Syria in the current calendar year, targeting positions of Hezbollah and 'Iranian militias.' Over more than a decade of the Syrian civil war, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against the positions of the Islamic Republic and Iranian proxy groups, including Hezbollah, within Syrian territory. Israel rarely comments on its attacks in Syria but has repeatedly warned that it will not allow the Islamic Republic to create threats against Israel from Syrian soil.