Nasrallah says Iranian response to alleged Israeli strike ‘definitely coming’
Hezbollah leader calls attack that killed top IRGC generals a ‘turning point,’ says terror group has not yet used its main weapons in six months of clashes with Israel
BEIRUT — The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group said on Friday that Israel’s alleged strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus this week marked a “turning point” and said that an Iranian response was “definitely coming.”
The Damascus strike on Monday killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, among them a senior Quds Force commander, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi. Iran has vowed revenge.
Zahedi was reportedly responsible for the Quds Force’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, for Iranian militias there, and for ties with Hezbollah, and thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in the two countries. The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has said it supports Iran’s right to “punish” Israel, and in televised remarks on Friday, Hassan Nasrallah said the response was coming.
“Be certain, be sure, that the Iranian response to the targeting of the consulate in Damascus is definitely coming against Israel,” he said.
Nasrallah warned Friday his group had not yet used its main weapons in nearly six months of cross-border exchanges with Israel since the Gaza war began when Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 253 hostages.
“We have not employed our main weapons yet, nor have we used our main forces,” Nasrallah said in the televised speech marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day — an annual day of pro-Palestinian rallies held by Iran and its allies.
Israel has braced itself for the possibility of a retaliatory attack, canceling leave for all combat units and mobilizing more troops for air defense units.
Speaking to Israeli forces at an air base on Friday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was attacking enemies wherever it decided to do so.
“It could be in Damascus and it could be in Beirut,” he said. “The enemy is badly hit in all places and is therefore looking for ways to respond. We are ready with a multi-layered defense.”
Until now, Iran has avoided directly entering the fray, while supporting a slew of attacks on Israeli and US targets by its proxies across the region in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Diplomats and analysts say Iran’s clerical elite does not want an all-out war with Israel or the US that might endanger its grip on power, and would prefer to keep using its proxies to carry out selective tactical attacks on its foes.
On Friday, an Israeli strike on the town of Marjayoun killed three Amal fighters, according to security and medical sources.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there. So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in eight civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of ten IDF soldiers and reservists.
There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries. Hezbollah has named 267 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 50 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 60 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.