Frozen Conflict: Two IRGC Officers Killed in Israeli Strike on Damascus Suburbs

As Iran and Syria move toward diplomatic normalization with a number of Gulf Arab states, Israel’s bombardment of Iranian military positions in Syria continues unabated. According to Haaretz, in March alone, Israel conducted no fewer than six attacks against targets in Syria, including Iranian convoys transporting weapons to Lebanese Hezbollah and warehouses in the Damascus suburbs. Israel’s March 31 attack on a position in the suburbs of Damascus, which, according to Iran’s state-censored press, killed two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers, comes amid a decadelong Israeli campaign against Iranian and allied military positions in Syria. As in the past, Iran did not retaliate against Israel, choosing strategic patience rather than risking an inopportune war.   

• March 31: Nasser Kanani, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said, as quoted by Khabarban: “We strongly condemn the aggressor Zionist regime’s attacks against locations in Damascus and its suburbs … It is deeply saddening that the international community has not reacted to the systematic, aggressive attacks of the Zionist regime against Syria, including against civilian airports and even residential neighborhoods.”  
• April 1: Fars News Agency covered the funeral service of IRGC Captain Milad Heydari in Qarchak county. According to the news agency, Heydari was allegedly killed in an Israeli air raid against a position in the Damascus suburbs.    
• April 2: According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, IRGC Captain Meqdad Mahqani, who was injured during the March 31 attack, died. 

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