Iranian general appears to take responsibility for rocket attack targeting Israeli nuclear site

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard general appeared to indirectly take responsibility for a missile strike targeting the secretive Dimona nuclear reactor in southern Israel, suggesting it could be in retaliation for a sabotage attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant earlier this month.

Brigadier-General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Deputy Commander for Cultural and Social Affairs told Iranian television on Thursday that “whoever does an evil act should wait for it to rebound on him”.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army said that it launched strikes against SAM missile batteries near Damascus after a missile was fired from Syria towards the Negev Desert in southern Israel, where the Dimona reactor is located.

Air raid sirens sounded in the village of Abu Qrenat near Dimona, but there were no reports of Israelis injured or any physical damage.

Iran has been a key backer of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in its conflict with rebels and Iranian-sponsored militias operate in Syria.

Naqdi said that Israel had tried to hide the extent of the damage caused by the attack in southern Israel.

“The Zionists tried to cover up the events which happened yesterday in occupied Palestine but that was not possible because of the intensity of the explosions. Thousands of people heard and saw them,” he told Iranian TV.

Iranian media also reported on Thursday that the rocket which landed near the Dimona nuclear site was an Iranian-made Fateh missile.

The conservative Kayhan daily said that it was “an accurate missile” which “could have hit the target”

The Fateh-110 is a short-range Iranian-manufactured ballistic missile with a range of approximately 300 kilometres.

On April 11, Iran announced that its nuclear facility at Natanz was hit by an act of “terrorism”, saying later that the suspect behind the incident had fled.

Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying that the bomb used in the incident could have been planted many years ago.

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