Iran has accused Israel of a strike in Damascus that killed five Revolutionary Guards members, and vowed to avenge the latest attack on the Islamic republic’s personnel abroad, AFP reports.

Israel has been accused of intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon — both backers of the Palestinian group Hamas — raising fears that the Gaza conflict could expand further throughout the region.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it lost five members in the strike that it blamed on Israel, its regional arch-foe, updating an earlier toll from four. Hamas condemned what it called a “heinous crime”.

In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani also accused Israel of being behind the attack and said Iran “reserves the right to respond to organised terrorism” at the appropriate time and place.