Iran’s Guard leader reiterated pledge of ‘revenge’ against Israel shortly before planned Hezbollah attack

Last night, Major General Hossein Salami, commander in chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), reiterated Tehran’s pledge to retaliate against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil.

“You will hear good news about revenge, God willing,” Salami said last night during an inspection of a border crossing between Iran and Iraq, as thousands of Shiite pilgrims made their way to the Iraqi city of Karbala for the Arbaeen pilgrimage. A group of pilgrims encircled the commander chanting “Death to Israel,” the Iranian news agency IRNA reports.

According to US officials who spoke with The Washington Post last week, Iran may have been convinced to delay a direct attack on Israel, deterred by an enormous US military buildup in the region, but was encouraging Hezbollah to launch a strike.

Last night, some 100 IAF fighter jets conducted a preemptive strike against thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers, as the Lebanese terror group was about to launch its response to the killing of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. Hezbollah claimed it fired over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel.