Top general: Israel's attack on Iranian consulate in Syria was 'suicide’

Iran’s highest-ranking military commander says the recent Israeli aggression on the Iranian diplomatic facilities in the Syrian capital of Damascus amounts to the regime’s lunacy and suicide.

Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, made the statement as he was speaking at the funeral ceremony of Major General Mohammad Reza Zahedi in the Iranian city if Isfahan on Saturday. Crowds at the gathering chanted "Down with Israel!" and "Down with the United States!"

Zahedi was among the seven military advisors of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) who were martyred in the Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Consular Section of the Iranian Embassy in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus on Monday afternoon.

“The recent missile attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, as a headquarters with international immunity, is a kind of madness and spells the suicide of the Zionist regime,” Baqeri said.

Stressing that the Israeli aggression on the Iranian consulate resulted from the Zionist regime’s despair, Baqeri added, “We will punish the enemy with the help of our valiant men and we will surely take our revenge.”

Iran’s top military official underlined that, “We have learned from our great commanders to determine the time, type and plan of operations by ourselves, and this will be done at the right time and with maximum damage to the enemy.”

Baqeri also warned that the main responsibility for the attack lies with the US, and Washington must be held accountable.

Israeli warplanes bombed with six missiles the Iranian consulate, situated next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, on April 1.

Zahedi, a commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were killed in the terrorist attack.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel will receive a slap in the face for its deadly aggression.

Iran says reserves right to ‘respond decisively’ to Israeli aggression

The Foreign Ministry has underscored the Islamic Republic’s legitimate right to a decisive response based on international law.

‘Resistance is alive’

Speaking at the funeral ceremony, Baqeri said the Israeli regime intended to dominate the West Asia region but the occupying entity is currently witnessing its collapse as the Quds Force and their comrades as well as the people in different areas of the Islamic World, including Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Iran have joined hands to deter Israel.

The top Iranian commander also praised Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by Palestinians against the occupied territories in October last year, saying the retaliatory attack revealed just a part of the resistance front’s strength.

Stressing that the surprise attack by the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups inflicted an irreparable defeat on Israel, Baqeri said the regime had failed to achieve any of its goals after six months of genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Baqeri added that the resistance is alive and will continue until the complete destruction of the occupying regime.

Despite a brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, Tel Aviv has blocked water, food, and electricity to the besieged enclave, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

More than 180 days into the onslaught, at least 33,091 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, with 75,750 others injured, mostly women and children.

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