Israel in complete panic, waiting for Iran response to Syria attack: Leader’s aide

A top military adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Israel is in complete panic as it awaits Iran’s response to an Israeli terrorist strike against its diplomatic premises in Syria.

Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi made the remarks while speaking at a memorial service for a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

Zahedi along with his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi and five others were killed during the Israeli missile attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1.

"It has been a week that the Zionists are in complete panic and are on alert," Rahim Safavi said.

He added that Israel has suspended the ground invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza because it does not know how, where and when Iran will give its retaliatory response.

Israel and its supporters are terrified, the top Iranian general emphasized.

"This psychological, media and political war is more terrifying for them than the war itself, because they are waiting for an attack every night and many of them have fled and gone to shelters," Rahim Safavi pointed out.

He said differences have been intensified among Israeli political and military officials "because all know that a consulate is a territory of a country."

During a speech in Tehran on Wednesday after leading the Eid al-Fitr prayers, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Israeli regime “must be punished and will be punished” for its deadly strike on the Iranian diplomatic premises.

The Leader added, “The evil Zionist regime committed another mistake ...  and that was the attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The consulate and diplomatic missions in any country are considered to be the territory of that country. When they attack our consulate, it means they have attacked our soil."

Iran: UN condemnation of Israeli airstrike could have 'obviated' retaliation

Iran’s mission to the UN has said that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel’s attack on its consular section in Syrian capital could have prevented the need for retaliation.

In a post on the social media platform X on Thursday, Iran’s mission to the UN said that the United Nations Security Council's condemnation of Israel’s attack in Damascus could have prevented the need for retaliation.

Pointing to the developments in the war-ravaged Gaza, Rahim Safavi said Israel is not committed to any UN Security Council resolution on the establishment of a ceasefire in the Strip.

The hands of the US and Israel will be cut off from the West Asian region, he said, emphasizing that they will suffer a defeat in Palestine soon.

The senior Iranian general noted that the resistance front and Palestinian people will achieve a definite victory in the face of Israel.

Israel waged the bloody war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance front Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm in the occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s incessant crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 33,686 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured 76,309 people, according to the health ministry in the territory.

Israel has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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