IRGC military adviser Reza Zarei. Via X.
An officer of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy serving as a military adviser in Syria was killed in suspected Israeli strikes that targeted a villa on the country’s coast on the morning of March 1, the official Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
The strikes destroyed a villa in the town of Batraya in the northern countryside of Tartus. Several nearby residential buildings were damaged.
The slain IRGC naval officer was identified as Reza Zarei by Iranian media, which also reported that two fighters from Hezbollah were killed along with him in the same strikes. The Iranian-backed Lebanese group is yet to confirm this.
Zarei was the ninth Iranian officer to be killed in Syria since Israel intensified attacks on the country after the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip.
Two officers of the IRGC were killed in the town of Set Zaynab in the southern outskirts of the capital, Damascus, on December 2 in a strike that was blamed on Israel. Another attack that targeted the town on December 25 claimed the life of Quds Force senior commander Brigade General Seyed Razi Mousavi. Israel was also held responsible by both Iran and Syria.
Later on January 20, five IRGC officers, including the commander of the guards’ intelligence in Syria, were killed when strikes allegedly carried out by Israel targeted the al-Mazzeh Western Villas neighborhood in Damascus. Another advisor of the IRGC was killed when another wave of alleged Israeli strikes hit Set Zaynab on February 2.
The IRGC avenged the death of Brig. Gen. Mousavi by firing missiles at an alleged Israeli intelligence base in the northern Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan on January 15. The guards later vowed to respond to the death of its other members in Syria. However, it is yet to take action.
The killing of another Iranian military advisor in Syria will further raise tensions between Iran and Israel. Israel will likely escalate its campaign against the IRGC in Syria, if Iran doesn’t respond.
