The United States had no involvement in an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consular annex building in the Syrian capital Damascus and was not informed about it in advance, officials said Tuesday.
Jerrymusa.com reports that more than a dozen people were killed in the hit, including senior Revolutionary Guard members. Israel has so far refrained from commenting. Tehran has pledged to retaliate.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a briefing, “We had nothing to do with the strike in Damascus; we were involved in any way whatsoever.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministers Remark
Remarks made by Iran’s foreign minister that the strike was the primary responsibility of the US, Israel’s principal ally, were brushed off by Kirby as “nonsense.”
Sabrina Singh, the deputy press secretary for the Pentagon, added that Washington’s forces were not involved in the strike and that the US informed Tehran of this through unofficial means.
Singh informed reporters, “We were not informed by the Israelis about their strike or the intended target of their strike in Damascus.”
“We’ve made it very clear in private channels to Iran that we were not responsible for the strike.”
According to Iranian official media, the Monday strike claimed the lives of 13 people: six Syrian citizens and seven members of Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Two senior officers, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Brigadier General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, were among the deceased, according to the Guards.
Singh added that although Washington believes that high-ranking Revolutionary Guards leaders were slain, it hasn’t been able to independently ascertain who they were.