US not notified of Israeli attack in Damascus before strike: Pentagon

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US was not notified of an Israeli attack Monday against an Iranian diplomatic mission in the Syrian capital of Damascus "before the strike," the Pentagon said Tuesday.

"We were not notified by the Israelis about their strike or the intended target of their strike in Damascus," spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.

At least 11 people, including three from Syria and a Lebanese national, were killed in the attack on the Iranian Consulate.

Among those killed were two generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite unit of the Iranian armed forces, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, Gen. Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, along with five military advisers to the guard corps.

Singh stressed that the strike was not a US military attack.

"We've made it very clear in private channels to Iran that we were not responsible for the strike that happened in Damascus.
I will reiterate the US had no involvement in that strike. And we had no knowledge about it ahead of time," she said.

Singh said Washington "certainly" does not seek escalation in the region as she stressed that the US does not support attacks on diplomatic facilities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his ministry summoned an official from the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to send an "important message" to the US.

"An important message was sent to the American government as a supporter of the Zionist regime. America must be held accountable," Amir-Abdollahian wrote on X.