BEIRUT (AFP) - An Iranian official was killed in Syria overnight by "armed terrorists" while travelling from Damascus towards Lebanon, the Iranian embassy in Beirut said in a statement on Thursday.

It named the official as Hessam Khoshnevis and said he was in charge of the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon that was set up after the devastating war in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militia, which is supported by Iran.

The embassy statement did not elaborate on the circumstances or the exact location of his death.

According to Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir, "Khoshnevis was in Syria, specifically in the (northern city of) Aleppo, to study projects to reconstruct the city."