Iran on Monday threatened to deal Israel "a painful blow" over its strike on Iranian assets in Syria last week, with a senior official saying that "the days when the Zionist regime would hit and run are over."
In a press conference in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi condemned the reported Israeli strike on the T4 base in Homs province in Syria, in which seven Quds Force members were killed, including the commander of its drone unit in Syria.
Iran's Quds Force is widely considered to be Tehran's black-ops arm.
"Israel will receive a painful blow for what it did at the T4 base. The days when the Zionist regime would hit and run are over," Qassemi asserted.
"The resistance forces and Syria can defend their territorial integrity and national sovereignty. … Israel will sooner or later receive the necessary responses to its recent crime and aggression. … I suggest to the Israelis to refrain from foolish steps if they want to continue their treacherous existence. Iran is capable of destroying Israel," he warned.
Ibrahim Al Amin, the editor of Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar, wrote Monday that "Iran will seek to target the IDF to inflict harm that would equal the damage that Israel caused in the attack [on T4]."
He added that Iran was likely to retaliate directly, rather than use its proxies in Lebanon and Syria, saying the Iranian response would take place "in and around Palestine."
Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Iran's Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah, described strike of T4 as a "historic mistake and a great folly" on Israel's part and warned it would put Israel "in direct confrontation with Iran."
He further warned that the strike on the Iranian-operated base in Syria was "a pivotal incident in the history of the region that cannot be ignored.
"Iran is not a weak or a cowardly state, and you know that well. The Israeli have made a bad calculation. Now you will have to face the Islamic republic of Iran and it would be different from any previous time."
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated Monday that Israel will not allow Iran to entrench itself militarily in neighboring Syria.
"We will not tolerate a significant Iranian military force in Syria in the form of military ports and airports or the deployment of sophisticated weaponry," Lieberman said.
