Iran vows retaliation following ‘Israeli strike’ on its Damascus consulate

Iran's President Raisi vows retaliation after seven military commanders were killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike on its consulate Syrian capital Damascus.

Iran will retaliate for a suspected Israeli air strike against its consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Tuesday, a day after seven Iranian military commanders were killed in the attack.

Emergency and security personnel search the rubble at the site of strikes which hit a building annexed to the Iranian embassy in Syria's capital Damascus, on April 1, 2024. (AFP)

"Having failed to destroy the will of the resistance front, the Zionist regime (Israel) has put blind assassinations back on its agenda to save itself. It must know that it will never achieve its goals and that this cowardly crime will not go unanswered," Raisi said, according to state media.

Israel has long targeted Iran's military installations in Syria and those of its proxies, but Monday's attack was the first time it apparently hit the vast embassy compound itself. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment.

It has ramped up those strikes in parallel with its campaign against Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, which ignited the Gaza war with an Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 253 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.