Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets in Syria on Sunday killed 12 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog group reported Tuesday.
The SOHR also reported that the death toll from the strikes had risen to at least 21, including four Syrian soldiers and five as-yet unidentified civilians.
Following the strike, which Israel – in a departure from its long-standing policy on ambiguity – confirmed early Monday, the head of Iran's air force said that the Islamic Republic was "eager" to fight Israel and destroy it.
"The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth," Iran state news quoted Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh as saying.
Israel said that it attacked multiple Iranian military targets in Syria on Sunday after the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a missile fired by Iranian forces at the Golan Heights on Sunday afternoon, which was in retaliation for a rare daylight airstrike on Damascus International Airport by Israel earlier Sunday.
