Iran has vowed to take revenge on Israel after accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime of carrying out an attack that killed several revolutionary guards.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) alleged earlier today that the Israeli state was behind a strike in Damascus that killed five of the guards, marking the latest attack on the Islamic Republic’s personnel abroad.
Islamic leaders aligned with Hamas have recently accused the nation of carrying out attacks in Syria and Lebanon targeting Iran and its allies.
Hamas has condemned what it has termed a “heinous crime”, and Iran’s top brass has vowed to punish Israel.
In a statement released this evening, President Ebrahim Raisi said the Netanyahu regime’s “crimes” would not go unanswered.
Nasser Kanaani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, was the first official to speak out following this morning’s strike.
According to Iranian state media, he claimed the attack was a “desperate attempt to spread instability in the region”, and said the country has a right to respond.
He said: “Iran…reserves its right to respond to the organised terrorism of the fake Zionist regime at the appropriate time and place.”
President Raisi delivered a similar statement, saying: “The Islamic Republic will not leave the Zionist regime’s crimes unanswered.”
Syrian state media SANA reported the strike this morning landed on a residential building in Al Mazzeh, a Damascus municipality not far from the Israeli border.
The nation’s defence ministry said the attack killed a “number of civilians”, and emergency authorities cordoned off the area to allow ambulances and Red Crescent teams to search for survivors.
A journalist for AFP said the strike reduced the building to debris and reported a local as saying they saw a “large cloud of smoke” following the explosion.
The local added: “The sound was similar to a missile explosion, and minutes later, I heard the sound of ambulances.”
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the Damascus strike, with a spokesman telling AFP officials would not “comment on reports from the foreign media”.
The nation has carried out strikes along the border with Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, and attacks have intensified since the October 7 Hamas attacks.
