An image grab taken from an AFP video shows what appears to be smoke billowing over buildings near the Syrian capital Damascus, following a reported Israeli air strike overnight on July 1, 2019. (PHOTO / AFP)

DUBAI / AMMAN - A second Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps member who served as a military adviser in Syria died following an Israeli air strike near Damascus, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.

"Meqdad Mehghani Jafarabadi, a member of the Revolutionary Guards, was wounded in a criminal attack of the Zionist regime on Friday and was martyred due to the severity of his injuries," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement published on Sunday.

Early on Sunday, Israel targeted outposts in Syria's Homs province in a raid, the Syrian defense ministry said

"The crimes of the Zionist regime will not go unanswered and they will pay for this," they added.

Israel has for years carried out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Teheran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that began in 2011.

Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus. Dozens of Revolutionary Guards members including senior officers have been killed in Syria during the war.

Friday's air strike, the sixth attack by Israel in Syria in March according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also killed another Revolutionary Guards officer and military adviser, Milad Haydari.

READ MORE: Iran: Israeli attack kills Iranian Guards officer in Syria

Early on Sunday, Israel targeted outposts in Syria's Homs province in a raid, the Syrian defense ministry said, while Western intelligence sources said the strikes hit a series of air bases in the central region of the country where Iranian personnel are based.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the report of the latest strike in Syria, the third since Thursday.