News - Middle East: Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets to voice their support for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Operation True Promise, a raft of retaliatory strikes conducted by the Corps against the occupied territories recently.

The rallies were held following Friday prayers in the capital Tehran, the central city of Isfahan, the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the north-central city of Qom, and many other locations throughout the country.

In the capital, the demonstrators marched from the vicinity of the University of Tehran towards the iconic Enqelab Square, holding up placards that read, “We are grateful towards the Corps,” “punishment of the aggressor,” and “the next slap will be harder.”

The IRGC launched the operation late on Saturday in response to a deadly attack by the regime against the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1.

The Israeli attack had resulted in the martyrdom of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, his deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, and five of their accompanying officers.

During the retaliatory strikes, the Corps targeted the occupied territories with hundreds of drones and missiles. The strikes inflicted damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied territories.

At the end of the Tehran rally, the participants issued a statement, describing the operation as a means of “legitimate defense” that further demonstrated “the strength and esteem of [Iran’s] Islamic establishment.”

“The inefficiency of [the Israeli regime’s] Iron Dome [missile system] and the defeat of the Zionist regime’s supporters [in the face of the retaliation] disrupted the world’s political and military equations,” it added.

Participants in the Friday rallies also voiced their resentment at the Israeli regime and the United States over the regime’s October-present Washington-backed genocidal war against the Gaza Strip that has so far killed upwards of 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“The Iranian nation will stand by the Palestinian nation until final victory,” concluded the statement by the capital’s demonstrators.

Source: Press TV