Khamenei Threatens Israel with ‘Punishment’
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated on Wednesday that “Israel must be punished and will be punished” for its attack on the Iranian consulate compound in Syria.
In a speech marking Eid al-Fitr, he added: “The evil regime has made a mistake and must be punished, and it will be.”
An airstrike attributed to Israel destroyed the Iranian consulate headquarters in Damascus, killing two senior officials, including one who was the highest-ranking Iranian military official in Syria, along with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard reported that 7 of their members, including General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Hajji Rahimi, were killed in the strike.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll from the strike targeting the Iranian consulate in Damascus reached 16.
Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah assets, including warehouses, weapons shipments, and ammunition, as well as Syrian army sites.
Israel rarely confirms these strikes but reiterates its opposition to Tehran’s attempts to solidify its military presence in Syria.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on October 7, Israel has intensified its targeting of sites in its northern neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Iran’s allies in the region, from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, have attacked Israeli or American targets in support of Hamas. However, they have refrained from undertaking large-scale actions, while Tehran has stated it does not want a regional war.
However, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi asserted on Tuesday that the “cowardly” targeting of his country’s consulate in Damascus “will not go unanswered.”
