Hezbollah chief says Iran response 'inevitable' after consulate strike

The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement warned Friday that Iran would inevitably retaliate after a strike widely blamed on Israel destroyed its consulate in Damascus this week, killing two generals.

"Be certain that Iran's response to the targeting of its Damascus consulate is inevitable," Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day -- an annual day of pro-Palestinian rallies held by Iran and its allies.

Monday's strike in the Syrian capital levelled the five-storey consular annex of the Iranian embassy and killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.

Nasrallah, whose fighters have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israel since the Gaza war began in October, said the strike on the Iran consulate was a "turning point".

Hezbollah "does not fear war and is fully prepared for any war" with Israel, he said.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel "will be punished" for the consulate strike.

Israel has not commented on the strike, but analysts saw it as an escalation of its campaign against Iran and its regional proxies that runs the risk of triggering a wider war beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Israel said Thursday it was strengthening its defences and pausing leave for combat units following Iran's threats to retaliate.

cbg-aya/kir