An apparent airstrike in Damascus on Monday killed Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top commander in the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state television has confirmed. Iranian press reported that Zahedi was meeting with leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad at the time of the strike, but these reports could not be independently verified.
Zahedi commanded the Quds Force's Unit 18000, responsible, among other things, for smuggling ammunition and precision weapons into Lebanon. He had also commanded the IRGC's Air Force and Imam Hussein Division in the past.
Initial reports indicate that at least six people were killed in the strike, which targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy.