Tehran (AFP) – Thousands of people gathered in Tehran on Friday for the funerals of seven members of the Revolutionary Guards killed in a strike in Syria, which Iran blamed on Israel.
The Guards, including two generals, were killed in the air strike on Monday which levelled the Iranian embassy's consular annex in Damascus.
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.
Friday's ceremony coincides with the annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day commemorations, when Iran and its allies stage marches in support of the Palestinians.
Iran has said that among the dead were two brigadier generals from the Guards' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi and Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
A Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Zahedi was the Quds Force commander for Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
The coffins of the seven were placed on trailers of two trucks in one of the largest squares in the Iranian capital, an AFP journalist said. Mourners held Iranian and Palestinian flags, as well as those from the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Pictures of the men killed were displayed on the trucks, accompanied by the slogan "Martyrs on the road to Jerusalem". Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel "will be punished" for the killings.
The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Tehran backs Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in that attack.
One placard on Friday echoed Khamenei's pledge to strike back after the Damascus strike: "We will make them regret this crime," it said.
State television broadcast footage of similar gatherings on Friday in other Iranian cities including Mashhad, Qom, Sanandaj and Shahrekord.
Khamenei said on Wednesday the Damascus strike was a "desperate" effort by Israel that "will not save them from defeat" in Gaza.
Monday's attack in Damascus, which the Observatory said killed 16 people, was the fifth raid on Syria in a week that has been blamed on Israel.
Iran, Israel's arch foe, has been a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during his country's 13-year civil war.
Israel has long fought a shadow war of assassinations and sabotage against Iran and its armed allies, including Hezbollah and other militant groups, carrying out hundreds of strikes against targets in Syria.
The number of attacks has intensified since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas began. After Friday's funeral ceremony in Tehran, the bodies of the Revolutionary Guards killed in Damascus will be taken to their home towns for burial.