Seven people were killed in an Israeli missile attack on a Shiite stronghold south of the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, Iran's semi-official media Tasnim reported.

The casualties include a Syrian guard who was protecting one of the leaders of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) inside Syrian territories. Additionally, three victims were believed to be members of the IRGC, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also attributed the attack to Israel.

Syrian state media said on Monday that "a number of Iranian advisers" were killed in an Israeli attack south of the capital, in a rare acknowledgment by Damascus of Iranian casualties in Israeli strikes on Syrian territory.

It also said civilians were killed but did not give a figure for either set of fatalities. Iran's ambassador to Syria had earlier said there were no Iranian casualties in the strike and the strike didn't hit an advisory center as previously reported by Tasnim.

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua)