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(CNN) — Iran vowed to retaliate on Monday after it accused Israel of bombing its embassy compound in Syria, a deadly escalation of regional tensions over the Gaza war, once again raising the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East. .
According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the airstrike destroyed the consulate building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and killed at least seven officials, including top Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and top commander Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi.
Zahedi, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s ground and air forces and deputy commander of its operations, is the most high-profile Iranian target killed since then-US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.
Iran and Syria accused Israel of being the author of the attack. Tehran warned there would be a “severe response”, and the powerful Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said the attack would be responded to with “punishment and revenge”. Iran also said it would hold the United States “accountable” for its support of Israel.
The Israeli military told CNN it does not comment on foreign reports. However, a military spokesman said Israel believed the intended target was “a military building of the Quds Force”, a Revolutionary Guard unit responsible for operations abroad.
Emergency and security personnel inspect the site of attacks on a building next to the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus, April 1, 2024. Credit: Louis Beshara/AFP/Getty Images.
“According to our intelligence services, this is not a consulate or an embassy,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told CNN. “I repeat, this is not a consulate and this is not an embassy. This is a Quds Force military building disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”
According to The New York Times report, four unnamed Israeli officials acknowledged that Israel had carried out the attack.
CNN cannot confirm the Times report, nor independently verify the claims by Iran, Syria and Israel.
critical attack
Israel has stepped up its military campaign against Iran and its regional allies following the October 7 attack by the Tehran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and more than 200 taken hostage.
Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 32,800 people, according to the besieged enclave’s health ministry, causing widespread destruction and pushing more than a million people to the brink of famine.
Although Israel has long attacked Iran and its allies in Syria, its latest apparent attack in Damascus marks a significant expansion in both location and targets. The Consulate Building, which also includes the Ambassador’s residence and is located next to the Iranian Embassy, is considered sovereign Iranian territory.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, declared, “This is perhaps the first time that the Zionist regime has allowed itself to attack the official building of the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on which the flag of the Islamic Republic was flying high.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani warned that Tehran “reserves the right to take reciprocal measures and will decide the type of response and punishment against the attacker.”
And the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian called the attack “a violation of all international obligations and conventions”, demanding a “serious response” from the international community.
Amir-Abdollahian also blamed the United States for its support of Israel, underscoring rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.
“The United States must respond,” Iran’s top diplomat said in a message on Twitter.
Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran summoned the Swiss charge d’affaires early Tuesday local time to discuss the incident. Switzerland represents US interests in Iran.
“The dimensions of the terrorist attack and the Israeli regime’s guilt were explained, and the responsibility of the US administration was underlined,” Amir-Abdullahian said.
For his part, the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Faisal Mekdad, described the attack as a “gross violation of international rules, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”.
potential growth
Analysts say one of the most immediate consequences of the attack on the consulate could be an increase in attacks by Iran’s proxies, especially against US troops.
“We could see an increase or a resumption of attacks by Iraqi and Syrian militias against American troops,” he told CNN’s Trita. “And that would mean that an Israeli attack on Iran would actually put a target on the backs of American troops in the Middle East.” Is.” Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, proxies of Iran have launched attacks against Israel and its allies, while demanding a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
Iran-backed forces in Iraq and Syria have carried out dozens of attacks on US military bases in those countries. In January, three US soldiers were killed in a drone strike on a US post in Jordan near the Syrian border.
In retaliation, the United States attacked dozens of Iranian-backed targets in Iraq and Syria.
Meanwhile, Houthi rebels have launched a series of attacks on Western commercial vessels and military vessels in the Red Sea, one of the main arteries of international trade.
“It’s very clear that these increases by Iran-backed Iraqi militias are undoubtedly occurring in response to what is happening in Gaza,” Parsi said.
increased pressure
As the Middle East braces for a possible Iranian response, Tehran is under pressure to show its strength after the attack on the consulate, but without dragging the region into a wider war.
Iran’s most powerful paramilitary ally, Hezbollah, may be the most likely tool.
The Lebanese Shia militant group has been locked in daily shootouts with Israeli forces for nearly six months. It has walked a delicate line between trying to limit the area of its militant operations to the border area and trying to enforce the rules of engagement.
Their involvement has also increased fears that Israel’s war in Gaza could lead to wider regional conflict.
Hezbollah warned on Tuesday that Israel would make Israel pay for the attack on the consulate and praised Zahedi and others killed as “great martyrs”.
In a statement, the group said the death would not stop the “roaring tide of popular resistance” and that the enemy would face “punishment and revenge.”
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also faces significant domestic pressure to secure the release of all hostages held during the October 7 terrorist attack.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over the weekend in the country’s largest protests since the war against Hamas began, carrying banners demanding the prime minister’s resignation and new elections. Israel.
However, Israeli military spokesman Hagari blamed Iran for increasing tensions in the region.
“I’m not going to comment on that attack, but I want to tell you that over the last six months, Iran has been escalating tensions in the region. That’s the main factor,” he told CNN.
“(Iran) is the main actor committing atrocities in the region, using proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen.”
Jim Scutto, Lauren Kent, Hande Ate Alam, Adam Pourhamadi, Tara John and Allegra Goodwin contributed to this report.
