A close adviser to Khameni said Israel would pay sooner or later for its airstrikes in Syria.
By World Israel News Staff
In an interview with a Russian news outlet RT on Monday, a top Iranian adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “We’ll respond to Israel aggression in Syria.”
The interview with Ali Akbar Velayati was published after reports that the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike in Syria on Sunday night. However, it’s not clear if the interview had been recorded earlier.
Velayati said, “Our policy is that the illegal attacks of the Zionist entity in Syria can’t pass without a reaction.”
“The Zionist entity will regret its actions. We will respond sooner or later with the resistance in Syria and Lebanon. Hezbollah will harm Israel in its territory if it dares to strike in Lebanon,” he said.
Syrian media reported on Monday that air defenses intercepted “hostile missiles coming from the occupied lands.” The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said that three “foreign citizens” were killed in the Sunday night attack. It is likely the “foreign citizens” were Iranian.
Reports said that one of the missiles fell in the Aqraba area south of Damascus, where Israel struck an Iranian team of drone operators last summer that was planning to carry out a Kamikaze-style attack on Israel. Unlike the recent alleged airstrike, Israel admitted to carrying out that operation.
Israel considers Iranian entrenchment along its border in Syria an unacceptable threat and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes to slow Iran’s buildup in the region and its supply of weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel’s main concern is Iran’s efforts to attain a nuclear bomb.
On Monday, Iran announced it had started a secondary circuit on its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor.
“The starting of the secondary circuit will not violate restrictions placed on Iran’s nuclear program under a 2015 deal with world powers, but shows Iran is continuing work to develop the reactor amid renewed tensions with the United States,” reported Reuters.