Non-Islamist opposition factions say they are using the US-made TOW missiles to halt a Syrian army advance that is backed by Russian air strikes in the provinces of Hama and Idlib.
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An Associated Press reporter was outside the embassy when the first shell slammed into the compound in central Damascus and smoke billowed from inside.
In the fighting near Damascus, government forces fired hundreds of rockets at towns in the Eastern Ghouta, according to the Civil Defence for Rural Damascus, a rescue service operating in rebel-held areas. No one was harmed in the shelling.
“This is obviously a terrorist act meant to probably frighten supporters of the war against terror”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
An official with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said no one was hurt in the shelling.
The element from Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps has gathered near the Syrian city of Aleppo, said the defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
It was not clear whether the attack had targeted the rally.
The city of Aleppo was Syria’s most populous before the civil war began in 2011 after Assad cracked down on anti-government protests. There has already been what was described as a “near miss” between aircraft from the two countries.
“All the West stood against us. However, we leave the doors open and pin high hopes on a dialogue with all the participants in this complicated process, including American partners”, Putin said.
Photos purporting to show infamous Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Syria are making wave online this week, just as confirmation rolls out of new Iranian ground troops arriving in the country for an offensive with the Syrian army and Hezbollah.
But Washington and its allies accuse Moscow of targeting moderate Western-backed rebels and seeking to prop up President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime Russian ally.
Iranian and Syrian officials have long maintained that Iran has advisers and military experts in Syria. He added that the domestic flights are still allowed into the airport.
Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, head of Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, urged jihadists in the Caucasus to target Russians because of Moscow’s air campaign.
The Syrian wing of the banned Muslim Brotherhood also issued a statement, calling on the Syrians to wage jihad against what they called the “flagrant Russian occupation of Syria”.
A second official said the agreement that emerges would cover all aircraft that are part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS.
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It also said Hezbollah fighters arrived in the strategic Sahl al-Ghab plain to reinforce the regime’s offensive there.
