Israel Vows Retaliation Inside Iran for Any Attacks, Amid Rising Tensions

Top Israeli officials warned on Wednesday that Israel would retaliate with strikes inside Iran if Iran launched an attack from its territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to troops at an Iron Dome air defense system battery in northern Israel, emphasized that any attack on Israel would be met with a strong defense and a “powerful response in its territory.”

“In this war, we are being attacked from more than one front... from different directions. Any enemy that tries to attack us will first of all encounter a strong defense,” Gallant stated.

“But we will know how to react very quickly with decisive offensive action against the territory of whoever attacks our territory, no matter where it is, in the entire Middle East,” he added, according to the Times of Israel.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz earlier posted on the social media platform X that “If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will react and attack in Iran.”

These statements followed remarks by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who declared in response to an attack on an Iranian consular building in Damascus last week that Israel "must be punished and it shall be."

Khamenei justified his stance by stating that Israel had "attacked our territory" by bombing the embassy site, emphasizing, “Consulates and embassy institutions in any given country are deemed the sovereign territory of that nation." he said in his Eid al-Fitr sermon Wednesday.

"Therefore, an attack on our consulate equates to an attack on our own soil,” he said.

Khamenei, both in his Eid al-Fitr address and earlier in his condolence message, stressed the necessity of "punishing" Israel for the deaths of seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members, including two senior commanders, in the attack attributed to Israel.

"The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished," he warned.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the April 1 attack, but some Israeli officials have stated that the targeted building housed the IRGC Quds Force headquarters and was a "legitimate target."

In response to concerns about Iran's potential retaliatory attack, the Israeli military also ceased granting leaves for combat units on Thursday.

The attack marks a significant strike on Iranian targets in Syria, escalating regional tensions.

Iran's network of proxies in the region, known as "the axis of resistance," has engaged in skirmishes with Israel and launched attacks on US forces and bases across the Middle East since October.