The Iranian embassy in Beirut said Thursday that an Iranian official was killed overnight on his way back from Damascus to the Lebanese capital.

The embassy said in a statement that "engineer Houssam Khosh Newes, an Iranian development official working in Lebanon, was killed by "armed terrorist groups while he was returning to Beirut from the Syrian capital."

Media outlets reported that Khosh Newes was in the Syrian province of Aleppo evaluating development projects to reconstruct the northern city that is witnessing deadly clashes between the government forces and rebels.

Khosh Newes was appointed to help rebuild southern Lebanon by Iranian President Mahmound Ahmadinejad after the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. Endi