Iran is promising to deliver a "strong and decisive response" to Israel's recent airstrikes in Syria that killed two Iranian military advisers.
The Israelis "know they have received and will receive a harsher blow compared to what they have dealt to us," Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a deputy commander with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said during a funeral held Wednesday for two Iranian military advisers who were killed last week after Israel conducted a series of raids in Syria meant to push back Iranian-backed terrorist forces. "They should be ready for a strong and decisive response," Naqdi said.
The comments come amid an ongoing proxy war between Iran and Israel in Syria, where Iranian-backed forces have been orchestrating terror attacks on the Jewish state. Israeli forces are believed to be behind a series of recent strikes in and around Damascus that came after Tehran used its positions in Syria to launch a drone into Israeli airspace.
"The blood of our martyrs is far more valuable than killing a Zionist [in retaliation]; although this will happen, the main revenge is the liberation of al-Quds," Naqdi was quoted as saying in Iran's state-controlled press, referring to the mosque located on the Temple Mount. "We are seeing the collapse and elimination of Israel, and this is certain."
"The resistance movement," Naqdi said, "will not stop resistance until the elimination of Israel and cleaning up the region from their evil presence."
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations petitioned the international body on Thursday to classify Israel's strikes on Syria a violation of international law.
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