Iran warns Israel that ‘none of its embassies are safe’
top Iranian military adviser has warned Israel that none of its embassies are safe following a strike in Damascus last week, blamed on Israel, which killed 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals.
Regional tensions have threatened to draw the Middle East into a wider conflict as Israel's war against Hamas marks six months.
Israel has been preparing for an Iranian response to the strike without directly acknowledging its involvement.
The remarks by General Rahim Safavi signalled that the attack on a diplomatic mission could be met with a similar response.
“None of the embassies of the (Israeli) regime are safe anymore,” Gen Safavi, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim agency.
Gen Safavi was speaking at a memorial ceremony in Tehran for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard generals who were killed in the strike which flattened an Iranian consular building in Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is prepared for any response.
“Whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them,” he told a Cabinet meeting. “We follow that principle in practice, all the time as well as in recent days.”
The surging regional tensions came six months after the start of the war, which was sparked when Hamas militants charged from Gaza into Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 captive.
Israel retaliated with fierce bombardments and a ground offensive that have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities.
Yesterday, Israel’s military announced it is drawing back forces from the 98th paratroopers division who have been operating in the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, bringing Israeli troop levels in Gaza to some of the lowest levels since the war began.
The war's six-month mark has been met with growa ing frustration in Israel, where anti-government protests have swelled and anger is mounting over what some Israelis see as government inaction to help free the remaining roughly 130 hostages, about a quarter of whom are said by Israel to be dead.
Negotiations in pursuit of a ceasefire in exchange for the hostages’ release were expected to resume in Cairo on Sunday. An Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad intelligence agency was due to depart for Cairo, according to an Israeli official.
“Israel is prepared for a deal. Israel is not prepared to surrender,” Mr Netanyahu said. “Instead of the international pressure being directed at Israel, which is only causing Hamas to harden its positions, the pressure of the international community needs to be directed at Hamas.”
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement marking six months of war that “humanity has been all but abandoned” in Gaza.
The UN and partners warn of “imminent famine” for more than a million people as humanitarian workers urge Israel to loosen restrictions on delivering overland aid.