Israel has promised to retaliate if attacked by Iran, following a warning from Tehran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that it “must be punished” for an airstrike in Syria attributed to Israeli forces earlier this month.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued the warning on April 10 while visiting troops at an Iron Dome battery in northern Israel.
“In this war, we are being attacked from more than one front ... from different directions. Any enemy that tries to attack us will first of all be met with a strong defense,” the defense minister said. “But we will know how to react very quickly with a decisive offensive action against the territory of whoever attacks our territory, no matter where it is, in the entire Middle East.”
Mr. Gallant also stressed that Israel “has the ability” to act fast and decisively, and with a lot of power. “One of the things we excel at over the years is that the enemy never knows what surprises we are preparing for it,” he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz took to social media platform X on April 10 to issue a separate warning against a potential attack by Iran.
Israel ‘Must be Punished’
Their comments came after Iran’s supreme leader said Israel “must be punished and it shall be” for allegedly striking the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, on April 1.Among those killed in the strike were Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who was a senior commander of the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016, and Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, his deputy, the BBC reported.
The IRGC was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019.
A member of Hezbollah, Hussein Youssef, was also killed in the strike, a spokesperson for the group told The Associated Press.
“The consulate and embassy offices in any country are the territory of that country. When they attack the consulate, it is as if they have attacked our soil,” Mr. Khamenei said in a televised speech celebrating the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. “The evil regime made a mistake and must be punished and it shall be.”
US Commitment to Israel ‘Ironclad’
Mr. Khamenei did not provide further details regarding what steps Iran would take against Israel.Israel has not commented on whether it was involved in the strike but has previously admitted to carrying out various strikes on those linked to Iran-allied armed groups in Syria.
The incident comes as the fallout from the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion into Israel has spilled out into the wider Middle East, with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen increasingly becoming involved in action in Lebanon, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.
President Joe Biden on April 10 also warned Iran against planning a “significant attack” on U.S. ally Israel in retaliation for the incident in Syria earlier this month.
He also doubled down on previous comments that U.S. support for Israel is “ironclad.”
“As I told [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” President Biden told reporters at a White House press conference. “Let me say it again: ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security.”
