By Vassia Barba Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said that seven of its members were killed in an airstrike that struck Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus. Syrian officials and state media pinned the attack on Israel, which declined to comment. The strike on Iran’s embassy compound appears to signify an escalation of Israel’s targeting of Iranian military officials and their allies in Syria, which has intensified since Hamas militants — who are supported by Iran — attacked Israel on October 7. The airstrike claimed the lives of Gen. Ali Reza Zahdi, former head of the elite Quds Fo…