'Israeli airstrike' destroys Iranian consulate in Syrian capital 'killing and injuring everyone inside': Revolutionary Guard military commander is among the dead

A building next to Iran's embassy in Damascus has been destroyed in an airstrike, reportedly killing a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and five others - with state media saying Israel was behind the attack.

Pictures show the building in Syria's capital razed to the ground, with huge plumes of smoke rising from the site following the explosion this afternoon and emergency workers rushing to the scene.

IRGC leader Mohammed Reza Zahedi was killed in the attack, security sources have reported. A war monitor has reported that six people were killed in the building in the upmarket Mazzeh neighbourhood.

Syria's defence ministry said Israeli air strikes on Iran's consulate building in Damascus on Monday 'destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside'.

There was no comment from Israel, which has stepped up strikes on militant groups linked to its sworn enemy Iran as its war against Hamas in Gaza rages on.

The site of the apparent missile strike, with damage done to cars and buildings in the vicinty

Iranian media also reported that the strikes in Damascus completely destroyed the annex building

An Iranian flag is seen hanging over the bombed out building, which was flattened in the strike

Smoke rises over the buildings in Damascus following the strike

IRGC leader Mohammed Reza Zahedi was killed in the attack, security sources have reported

Following its usual practice, an Israeli military spokesperson said: 'We do not comment on reports in the foreign media.' 

Syria's foreign ministry has reportedly condemned the attack, and the Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers were both spotted at the scene.

Syria's official news agency SANA said that the building, an annex next to the embassy, had suffered major destruction and neighbouring buildings in the upmarket area of the city were also damaged. 

'The Israeli enemy launched air strikes from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus,' Syria's defence ministry said in a statement.

'The attack destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside, and work is underway to recover the bodies and rescue the wounded from under the rubble.'

Iranian media reported that the strikes in Damascus completely destroyed the annex building, but said that the ambassador was unharmed.

'Hossein Akbari, ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, and his family were not harmed in the Israeli attack,' Iran's Nour news agency said.

Britain-based group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 'Israeli missiles... destroyed the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy... in Damascus, killing six people'.

Syria's defence ministry said Israeli air strikes on Iran's consulate building in Damascus on Monday 'destroyed the entire building

Iran's Tasnim news agency said five people were killed in the Israeli strike. Syria's SANA state news agency reported an unspecified number of deaths and injuries.

Syria's official SANA news agency earlier reported that 'our air defence systems confronted enemy targets in the vicinity of Damascus'.

The incident came days after the Observatory reported Israeli strikes that killed 53 people in Syria, including 38 soldiers and seven members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Pictures show the building in Syria's capital razed to the ground, with emergency responders on the scene

Smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike to a buidling close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus

It was the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, said the monitor.

Since the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, Israel has ramped up airstrikes in Syria against Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both of which support the government of President Bashar al-Assad.