Iran has vowed to retaliate for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief warning that the country’s enemies will “regret” the killings. Tehran blames Israel for the attack, which leveled the Iranian embassy’s consular annexe in Damascus. The response from Iran will be carried out at the right time and with the necessary precision, according to chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri. The attack killed seven IRGC members, including two generals, one of whom was the al-Quds force commander for the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Lebanon.
At a ceremony in Isfahan, crowds chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans, while Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed that Israel will be punished for the killings. Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian chief called Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza a “betrayal of humanity,” as the conflict continued to claim civilian lives. In separate news, an explosive device detonated in southern Syria, killing seven children and injuring two people.
In Israel, the body of a hostage abducted during an attack on southern Israeli communities in October was recovered from Gaza by Israeli troops. Additionally, Hamas has announced that a delegation will travel to Cairo to discuss a potential ceasefire. The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry show that at least 33,137 Palestinians have been killed and 75,815 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October. Israeli authorities have detained 48 people suspected of having ties to ISIS in connection with a shooting at an Istanbul church in January.
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