The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmaeil Qa’ani, on Saturday warned Israel that it must “learn lessons” from its confrontations with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, adding that “Gaza also has its flood.”
“Gaza also has its flood. When we said Hezbollah has Mirsad [drones], you did not pay attention, and you got trapped. Who will answer for the one hundred casualties?” Qa’ani wrote on X.
“If you move according to the will of your politicians, you will be caught in the storm. Be careful,” he added.
The Mirsad is a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used for reconnaissance by the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah.
The term Mirsad is also associated with a historic Iranian military operation in July 1988, when Iran’s armed forces reportedly repelled an MKO offensive backed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, killing or wounding over 4,800 enemy forces and destroying 120 tanks and 400 armoured vehicles.
According to the Alma Research Center, an Israeli think tank that monitors the conflict, most of the recent attacks launched by Hezbollah have involved drones targeting Israeli forces, which are currently occupying areas in southern Lebanon. The group has also increasingly attacked Israeli communities across the border.
Hezbollah has recently escalated its military operations against Israeli forces occupying parts of Lebanese territory.
The group’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said, “We do not fear death, and this is an essential component of victory,” adding that “when the enemy confronts us with weapons, we confront it with weapons.”
Sheikh Qassem said resistance itself is a form of victory, arguing that “every step in which we reject occupation is a victory.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s violations of the ceasefire continue along the Lebanese border despite recent diplomatic understandings, including a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump, aimed at de-escalating the wider conflict that erupted after hostilities involving Israel and the United States against Iran on February 28.
His statement came after Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told Al Jazeera that Iran is “working to achieve peace on all fronts, including Gaza,” adding that Lebanon was included in the memorandum due to its direct link to the conflict.
President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump electronically signed a memorandum of understanding on June 18 intended to pave the way for ending the conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The memorandum also calls for an immediate halt to military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon and Gaza.
Hezbollah has intensified attacks in recent weeks against Israeli positions in areas it says are occupied in southern Lebanon.
Israel has continued strikes along the Lebanon border amid ongoing tensions despite diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict.
Iranian officials have said that halting Israeli attacks across regional fronts, particularly in Lebanon, remains a key objective of ongoing diplomatic efforts involving Tehran and Washington.
