An Iranian commander was among three people killed in a suspected Israeli air strike on Syria, Iranian state media reported on March 1.
Reza Zare'i, a "military adviser" with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGC), was killed following strikes on the Syrian coastal city of Baniyas, the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency reported. It said he was a member of the IRGC Navy.
Earlier, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights said the strikes came at dawn and targeted a villa, killing an Iranian commander and two companions who were not Syrian.
The IRGC has not commented on the reported death of one of its commanders. Iran refers to its troops in Syria as "military advisers."
At least 11 members of the IRGC, including an Afghan fighter with the Fatemiyun Brigade, have been killed in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip in October.
Israel launched a deadly offensive against the Palestinian enclave in response to a multipronged attack by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack inside Israel, while more than 250 were taken hostage and brought back to Gaza.
Iran has supported the assault by Hamas but denied it was involved in planning it. U.S. intelligence has indicated that Iranian leaders were surprised by the attack.
Iran's regional allies have been targeting Israeli and U.S. interests in the Middle East following Israel's attack on Gaza. However, armed groups backed by have scaled back their attacks on American bases following a series of U.S. strikes last month, according to the New York Times.
Iran stepped in to defend President Bashar al-Assad in 2013 when his rule was challenged during the Syrian civil war. Hundreds of IRGC commanders and officers and believed to be present in Syria, where Tehran has also built up a large network of militias, consisting mostly of Afghans and Pakistanis.