Tehran vows revenge after attack in Syria
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Tuesday vowed to respond to an airstrike widely attributed to Israel that destroyed Iran’s Consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus the previous day and killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals and a member of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.
Four Syrian citizens were also killed in the strike, a Syrian official said Tuesday, without providing any details about them. Hezbollah, which has been a key ally of both Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and Iran, also pledged “punishment and revenge” on Israel.
Iran’s deputy U.N. ambassador Zahra Ershadi told a contentious emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that some Iranians were injured, but “The final and accurate death toll remains uncertain as the entire diplomatic premises has been destroyed with individuals trapped under the rubble.”
Israel, which has repeatedly targeted Iranian officers in Syria and in Lebanon, did not confirm Monday’s attack.
Iran provides money and weapons to Hezbollah, as well as Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza. Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border have increased since the war in Gaza began nearly six months ag o.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, a key decision-making body, met late on Monday and decided on a “required” response to the strike, Iran’s state television reported. It said the meeting was chaired by President Ebrahim Raisi but provided no further details.
“We will make them regretful about the crime and similar acts,” said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran.
The U.S. National Security Council said the United States played no role in the strike in Damascus and did not know of it ahead of time. “We have communicated this directly to Iran,” U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, told the U.N. Security Council, saying the U.S. “cannot confirm any information about this event.”
Ershadi accused Israel of threatening regional and international peace and declared that “the United States is responsible for all crimes committed by the Israeli regime.”
She said Iran has exercised “considerable restraint” but Israel must now bear “full responsibility” for the consequences of the attack. Iran reserves its rights under interrnational law and the U.N. Charter “to take decisive response to such reprehensible acts.”
The U.S.’ Wood urged Iran and its proxies and partners in the region — Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis — to de-escalate tensions, and he repeated prior American warnings to them not to take advantage of the situation “to resume their attacks on U.S. personnel.”
Virtually all council members expressed concern that the Damascus attack, coupled with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, could spillover into the entire Mideast region, and beyond.