Top Iranian general and six Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli attack in Syria

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have confirmed that a senior member of their elite forces died in an Israeli attack in Syria in which six fighters of the Lebanese military group Hizbullah are also reported to have been killed.

The Guards issued a statement saying that Mohammad Ali Allahdadi was, as the top Iranian general, visiting the southern Syrian region of Quneitra on Sunday when an Israeli helicopter opened fire, killing the Iranian and an unspecified number of Hizbullah fighters with him.

"A group of fighters and Islamic Resistance [Hizbullah] forces were accompanying General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi as they visited the region of Quneitra," said the statement, which was published by the semi-official Fars news agency.

"[They] were attacked by a military helicopter of the Zionist regime," it added, a standard Iranian reference to Israel. "This brave general was martyred in this attack alongside some members of Hizbullah."

It is a rare example of Israel – the bitter enemy of the Islamic republic and determined opponent of its nuclear programme – killing a senior Iranian military figure.

Jihadi extremists The Revolutionary Guards said Allahdadi had been dispatched to Syria to operate as an adviser to help its government and people in their fight against “Takfiri-Salafi terrorists” – Iranian terminology for Sunni jihadi extremists.

It has also emerged that among the Hizbullah fighters killed in Sunday's attack was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hizbullah's late commander Imad Mughniyeh, who is believed to have been assassinated by Israel in Damascus in 2008. Another Hizbullah commander, Mohamad Issa, also known as Abu Issa, was killed on Sunday, according to the Lebanese group.

Iran is a staunch supporter of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and Hizbullah, providing both with military and financial support. The Syrian conflict has cost many Iranian lives in recent years, including many members of the Revolutionary Guards. In February 2013, another senior Guards figure, Gen Hassan Shateri, was killed while travelling from Syria to Lebanon. – (Guardian service)