Second Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser dies after Israeli air strike in Syria's Damascus

A military adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps  (IRGC) died of his injuries after an Israeli air strike near Syria's capital Damascus, Iranian semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday.

The news agency added that the officer was identified as Meqdad Meqdani.

The air strike that injured and subsequently killed the Revolutionary Guard was carried out early on Friday, and formed the second round of aerial attacks in less than 24 hours.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani vehemently condemned on Friday the attacks that the "aggressive Zionist regime" has conducted against a number of sites in Damascus, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Meqdani is now the second officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be killed following the Israeli attack, as the IRGC announced the death of one of its members earlier.

The Guards' official website IRNA, named the member as Milad Heidari, who was a military advisor and guard officer.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed Heidari's death.

Additionally, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards vowed that Tehran "will undoubtedly respond to this crime," according to the statement.

During more than a decade of war, Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, as well as affiliates of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the civil war that began in 2011.

Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of the regime. Dozens of Revolutionary Guards members including senior officers have been killed in Syria during the war.

(Reuters)