Iran says Israel embassies safe no more after consulate attack in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader warned that Israel’s embassies are no longer safe following the attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, a military advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said during a memorial ceremony held in Tehran for commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed in the attack on Iran’s consulate, “None of the embassies of the Zionist regime are safe anymore.”
On April 1, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which is adjacent to the main embassy building, killing five officers of the IRGC and two generals, including Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
Iran has vowed to avenge the airstrike on the consulate, for which it has blamed Israel, without determining how and when to retaliate.
Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s joint chief of staff, said during Zahedi’s funeral, “The time, type, plan of the operation will be decided by us, in a way that makes Israel regret what it did,” adding, “This will definitely be done.”
Israel has intensified airstrikes on Iran-linked targets, including weapons warehouses in Syria after the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct.7, 2023. However the attack on the Iranian consulate is considered a major escalation.