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Israel has raised the alert at its embassies worldwide amid fears Iran could launch a retaliatory attack after a suspected IDF strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Two IRGC generals were among the dead in the Syrian capital following Monday’s strike, prompting the Islamic Republic to swear revenge. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement, but it is widely assumed the IDF was behind the attack.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (pictured), who attended the funeral ceremonies of the Iranian victims yesterday, declared in the wake of the strike: ‘The evil Zionist regime will be punished at the hands of our brave men. ‘We will make them regret this crime and the other ones.’ Israeli diplomats serving abroad expressed concern their embassies will be the target of Iranian retaliation, and some have been informed not to attend public events as a precaution, diplomatic sources told JPost and other Israeli media outlets.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) said on Thursday that Iran has been acting against Israel for years, and defended any operations launched by Tel-Aviv against Tehran. ‘For years Iran has been working against us directly and through its proxies, and therefore Israel is working against Iran and its proxies, both defensively and offensively,’ Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting. ‘We will know how to defend ourselves and we will act according to the simple principle that whoever hurts us or plans to hurt us, we will hurt them,’ he said.
Netanyahu’s announcement came as the IDF – stretched by nearly six months of war in the Gaza Strip and on the Lebanese front – announced they were suspending leave for all combat units, a day after they said they were mobilising more troops for air defence units.
‘The State of Israel is prepared for every scenario. We will respond with force to any attempts to attack us,’ government spokesperson Raquela Karamson said in a briefing. ‘In accordance with the situational assessment, it has been decided that leave will be temporarily paused for all IDF (Israel Defence Forces) combat units,’ the military said in a statement. ‘The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements.’
Israel has been pressing its war on Hamas in Gaza since the Palestinian Islamists led a cross-border killing and kidnapping spree on October 7, and has also been trading fire almost daily with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which are aligned with Tehran, have launched occasional long-range rockets at Israel’s Eilat port. The possibility of Iran retaliating for Monday’s presumed Israeli air strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus has raised the spectre of a wider war, though two Iranian sources said Tehran’s response would be calibrated to avoid escalation.
With Israelis anxious about a possible escalation, the military later issued a statement clarifying that no changes had been made in its guidelines for the home front and that there was no need to gather food, cash or generators. Until now, Iran has avoided directly entering the fray, while supporting allies’ attacks on Israeli and U.S. targets, but the strike that eliminated General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (pictured) and General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi only added to fears that the Israel-Palestine war could spill over and spread violence throughout the Middle East. However, many diplomats and analysts say Iran’s clerical elite does not want any all-out war with Israel or the U.S. that might endanger its grip on power, and would prefer to keep using proxies to carry out selective tactical attacks on its foes.
U.S. officials said mid-week they had not yet picked up intelligence suggesting Iran-backed groups were looking to target U.S. troops following Monday’s attack. But one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a growing concern Iran would make good on its threats to retaliate, raising the risk of volatile, regional escalation. ‘Iran can’t afford not to respond, lest its military presence in the region become unsustainable and signal weakness to its chief regional foe,’ Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think-tank said on Thursday.
Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli intelligence chief, said Iran might choose this Friday – the last in the Holy Muslim month of Ramadan and Iranian Quds (Jerusalem) Day – to respond to the Damascus strike, either directly or through a proxy. Speaking Thursday, he said: ‘I will not be surprised if Iran will act tomorrow. Don’t panic. Don’t run to the shelters,’ said Yadlin, now at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center at Harvard University, citing Israel’s aerial defence systems. ‘Be tuned for tomorrow and then, depending on the consequences of the attack, it may escalate.’
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