Israel raises warning of Iranian retaliation after embassy attack

Israel nervously awaits an attack from Iran or its allies on Friday, as warnings of retaliation grow for last week's killing of a senior official at Iran's embassy in Damascus.

Countries including India, France and Russia have warned their citizens against traveling to the region, which is already under tension because of the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month.

The Polish Foreign Ministry also advises against traveling to Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. “It cannot be excluded that there will be a sudden escalation of military operations, which would cause significant difficulties in the exit of these three countries,” the ministry said in a statement. “Any escalation could lead to significant restrictions on air traffic and the inability to cross land borders.”

The Israeli military said on Thursday (11) that it had not issued new instructions to civilians, but that its forces were on high alert and prepared for a range of scenarios.

Israel's Foreign Ministry did not comment on reports that some Israeli diplomatic missions had been partially evacuated and security tightened.

“Revenge will come,” wrote Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. “Right now, the premise is that it will be very soon, in the next few days.”

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the April 1 airstrike that killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, and six other officers as they attended a meeting at the Damascus embassy compound.

But Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Israel and said the country “must and will be punished” for an operation he considered tantamount to an attack on Iranian soil.

“It will be very difficult for Iran not to retaliate,” said Raz Zimmt, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

“I still believe that Iran does not want to engage in a direct, large-scale military confrontation against Israel, and certainly not with the United States. But you need to do something.”

Iranian sources and diplomats from the United States, Israel's main ally, say Tehran has signaled to Washington that it wants to avoid escalation and will not act hastily.

But there is still a risk that any response could get out of hand.

“We are prepared to defend ourselves on the ground and in the air, in close cooperation with our partners, and we will know how to respond,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after a meeting with the head of US Central Command, General Michael Kurilla. .

Since Iran considered the embassy attack to be equivalent to an attack on its own territory, Zimmt said a direct attack on Israeli soil by Iran itself, rather than an ally like Hezbollah in Lebanon, was a real possibility.

“The risk of Israeli retaliation against Iran itself, which would be unprecedented, is certainly something we cannot rule out,” he added.

Iran has missiles capable of reaching Israel directly and, in recent weeks, Israel has reinforced its air defenses, which have intercepted thousands of rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah from Lebanon.

Border with Lebanon

The Israeli military has called up reservists in preparation for any escalation along its northern border, where it exchanges fire almost daily with Hezbollah.

Security camera footage captured the moment dozens of missiles were intercepted in the sky over the Israel-Lebanon border this Friday.

The Israeli army said in a statement that “approximately 40 launches were identified crossing Lebanese territory. Most of the missiles were intercepted, while the rest fell in open areas,” the statement added. No injuries were reported.

The country also withdrew most of its troops and armored vehicles from Gaza. The ministers said the move was taken ahead of a long-promised attack on the city of Rafah, where thousands of Hamas fighters are believed to be entrenched alongside more than a million Palestinians displaced from other parts of Gaza.

In Israel, although there were no formal safety instructions, some parents said their children were told to take books home during the Easter school holidays in preparation for possible disruptions to classes.