Iran Warns of ‘Decisive Response’ Against Israel After Syria Embassy Strike

A senior Iranian diplomat has warned that the Islamic Republic reserved the right to retaliate after airstrikes in Syria blamed on Israel reportedly killed several military officials, including at least two senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, in a letter obtained by Newsweek.

The letter, authored by Iranian Mission to the United Nations charge d’affaires Zahra Ershadi and addressed to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and U.N. Security Council President Vanessa Frazier, condemned the “heinous and abhorrent terrorist attack on the diplomatic premises of the Islamic Republic in Iran in the Syrian Arab Republic, where the capital of Damascus was rocked earlier Monday by explosions attributed by Iranian and Syrian officials to Israel.

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the strikes, which come amid a years-long campaign of semi-covert Israeli operations against suspected Iran-tied targets in Syria. The targeting of Iran’s embassy would mark a significant escalation at a time when regional tensions were already inflamed over the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Ershadi said that at least five Iranian personnel were killed in the attacks, including “senior military advisors,” two of whom have since been identified by the IRGC as General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi. She warned that not only did the attacks constitute a “flagrant violation” of international law, but also carried “far-reaching international implications” that “can exacerbate tensions in the region and potentially ignite more conflict involving other nations.”

She called on U.N. leadership to urgently address and condemn the attack and asserted that Israel may face serious repercussions at the hands of Iran.

“The aggressor Zionist regime bears full responsibility for its consequences,” Ershadi said, “and the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right under international law and the United Nations Charter to take a decisive response to such reprehensible acts.”

Damascus and Tehran have long shared close ties and their relationship has been bolstered since Iran mobilized advisers and allied militias to come to the aid of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as his government faced off with rebels and jihadis in a civil war that first erupted in 2011. This Iranian presence, however, has been viewed as a threat by Israel, whose raids against Iran-aligned targets have sometimes been referred to as “the war between wars.”

Newsweek has reached out to the IDF for comment.

With Israel now engaged in full-scale war with the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza, Syria is one of several fronts, alongside Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, in which forces aligned with the broader Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” have claimed attacks against Israel in solidarity with Palestinians.

Syrian officials joined their Iranian counterparts in vehemently condemning the attacks in Damascus. Speaking near the site of the attacks, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad warned that the alleged Israeli operation would not shake the relationship between Damascus and Tehran and raised questions about the humanity of the suspected perpetrators.

“We have said for a long time that the racist entity ‘Israel’ is a symbol of terrorism in this world,” Mekdad said, “and the massacres committed by the Zionists, especially in the Gaza Strip, indicate that they are not human, and indicate that they fight humans wherever they are, and this matter also reflects on those who support ‘Israel,’ especially in the United States of America.”

Syrian officials have repeatedly called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in the country without the permission of Assad’s government, with which Washington cut ties amid allegations of human rights violations early on in the nation’s conflict.

Condemnation came from abroad as well, with Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among the Arab nations releasing statements criticizing what they viewed to be illegal and destabilizing attacks against diplomatic facilities in Damascus. Russia, which joined Iran in backing Assad through a 2015 direct military intervention, also released a strongly worded statement on Monday, calling the attack a “categorically unacceptable” violation of the Vienna Conventions.

“We draw special attention to the fact that the attack was carried out in a densely populated metropolitan area, which created a high risk of mass casualties among the civilian population,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “We proceed from the fact that such aggressive actions by Israel are absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped.

“We consider it necessary for all responsible members of the international community to clearly define their position and appropriate legal assessment of these actions,” the Ministry added. “We strongly urge the Israeli leadership to abandon the practice of provocative military actions in Syria and other neighboring countries, which is fraught with extremely dangerous consequences throughout the entire region.”

This is a developing news story. More information will be added as it becomes available.