Thousands of individuals gathered in Tehran to pay their respects at the funerals of seven members of the Revolutionary Guards who lost their lives in a strike in Syria, an incident attributed to Israel by Iran.
The attack, which occurred on Monday and resulted in the destruction of the Iranian embassy’s consular annex in Damascus, claimed the lives of the Guards, including two generals. While Israel has remained silent regarding the strike, experts perceive it as a heightening of its ongoing efforts against Iran and its regional allies, posing the threat of triggering a broader conflict beyond the Israel-Hamas tensions in Gaza.
The ceremony, held on Friday, coincided with the annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day observances, during which Iran and its supporters organize rallies in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Among the deceased were two brigadier generals from the Quds Force’s foreign operations division, Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi and Mohammad Reza Zahedi. According to reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Zahedi served as the Quds Force commander for Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.
In Tehran, the coffins of the fallen guards were placed on trailers of vehicles in a central square, flanked by mourners waving Iranian and Palestinian flags, as well as emblems of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Images of the deceased individuals were showcased on the vehicles, accompanied by the slogan “Martyrs on the road to Jerusalem.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has vowed that Israel “will face consequences” for the deaths. While Tehran supports Hamas, it denies direct involvement in the conflict that erupted on October 7 with an attack by Hamas on Israel.
Crowds in other Iranian cities, such as Mashhad, Qom, Sanandaj, and Shahrekord, also staged similar gatherings in solidarity with the fallen guards.
Khamenei, asserting that the strike in Damascus was an act of desperation by Israel, emphasized that it would not mitigate a potential Israeli defeat in Gaza. This recent attack marked the fifth assault on Syria in a week that has been attributed to Israel, amid its longstanding confrontation with Iran and its allies through covert operations against militant groups like Hezbollah in Syria.
In the aftermath of the funeral ceremony in Tehran, the bodies of the deceased Revolutionary Guards will be transported to their respective hometowns for burial, underscoring a poignant end to the mourning process for the fallen soldiers.
