“Be certain that Iran’s response to the targeting of its Damascus consulate is inevitable,” said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech on Friday. Israel appears to be taking the Iranian proxy’s warning seriously.
Nasrallah’s warnings mirror the rhetoric broadcast by the Iranian regime in response to an Israeli strike on an informal Iranian diplomatic consulate in Syria on Monday, in which two Quds Force operatives — Brigadier Generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, were killed. Israeli media has reported on speculation that Iranian retaliation could take the form of a missile attack on Israel launched directly from Iranian territory, but it could just as easily involve a volley of any number of the thousands of missiles in Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon. Israel has called up reservists in anticipation of an Iranian reprisal, warned the Biden administration of its intent to respond to an Iranian attack, evacuated diplomatic personnel from a number of embassies and consulates worldwide, and warned Israeli officials to lay low for the time being.
