Tehran has promised a “harsh” response to a suspected Israeli airstrike that killed seven Iranian military officers and six Syrian nationals in Damascus, Syria.
“Having failed to destroy the will of the resistance front, the Zionist [Israeli] regime is again resorting to indiscriminate assassinations,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on April 2.
“This cowardly crime will not go unanswered.”
One day earlier, warplanes struck Iran’s vast diplomatic compound in the Syrian capital’s Mezzeh district, reportedly killing seven Iranian military officers.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps later confirmed that a top commander of the its elite Quds Force—and his deputy—had been killed in the strike.
On April 2, the death toll was revised upward to include six Syrian nationals who had been in the area at the time of the attack.
Iran was quick to blame Israel, its archfoe in the region, for the deadly attack.
In televised remarks, Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari—who was not hurt in the strike—said Tehran’s response would be “harsh.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations called the deadly strike a “threat to regional peace and security,” stressing Tehran’s right to mount “a decisive response.”
The mission further decried the attack as a “flagrant violation of the U.N. Charter, international law, and the inviolability of diplomatic premises.”
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, which is closely aligned with Shiite Iran, likewise vowed to retaliate.
“This crime will not be allowed to pass without the enemy receiving punishment and retribution,” it said in a statement.
Since 2015, Iran and Hezbollah have both maintained a military presence in Syria, where they operate in coordination with the Syrian army and government.
Israel accuses Iran and Hezbollah of using their military assets in Syria to conduct cross-border attacks on Israeli targets.
Mixed Signals
Israel typically refrains from commenting on attacks carried out by its forces on targets abroad.“We do not comment on reports in the foreign media,” an Israeli military spokesperson initially said when asked about the strike in Damascus.
However, The New York Times cited four unnamed Israeli officials who appeared to acknowledge Israel’s role in the attack.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify the newspaper’s claims or those made by anonymous sources.
In remarks to CNN on April 2, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the strike in Damascus had targeted a military—not diplomatic—building.
“According to our intelligence, this [target] is no consulate and no embassy,” he told the broadcaster.
“This is a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”
The Epoch Times could not independently verify Mr. Hagari’s assertions.
Since Israel was established in 1948, it has fought three major conflicts with Syria, with which it technically remains in a state of war.
Moscow Says Strike ‘Unacceptable’
In recent years, Israel has carried out frequent strikes on Iranian- and Hezbollah-linked targets in Syria, along with Syrian army positions.In October 2023, Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo international airports were simultaneously attacked by warplanes, damaging runways and grounding flights.
But the April 1 strike was the first time that a purported diplomatic mission in Syria came under fire, appearing to signal a shift in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.
The attack drew condemnation from leading states of the region, including Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
Russia, which also maintains a military presence in Syria at the behest of Damascus, described the strike as “unacceptable.”
“Such aggressive actions by Israel are absolutely unacceptable and must come to an end,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in an April 1 statement.
“We urgently call on the Israeli leadership to abandon the practice of provocative military operations in Syria and other neighboring countries.”
Russia’s embassy in Tehran, for its part, voiced its “shock and outrage” over the strike, calling it a “gross violation of international norms.”
Moscow reportedly called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on April 2 to discuss the incident and its ramifications.
The reaction among U.S. officials has been more subdued.
In the immediate wake of the strike, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment beyond saying, “We need more information.”
“As a general principle ... we are worried about escalation,” he told reporters on April 1.
“We are worried about anything that would cause the conflict [between Israel and its adversaries] to expand or widen in any way.”
