Beirut – Israel’s strike on a Syrian airbase this week has put it in directconfrontation with regional foe Iran, the head of Lebanon’s Tehran-backedHezbollah movement said on Friday.

“The Israelis committed a historic mistake… and put themselves in directcombat with Iran,” Hassan Nasrallah warned in a televised address.

Seven Iranian personnel were killed in Monday’s early-morning strike on theT-4 airbase in Syria, but Tehran had not specified which units the fightersbelonged to.

On Friday, Nasrallah said the casualties were elite Iranian RevolutionaryGuards, making the strike the first time in Syria’s long-running conflictthat they were intentionally hit by Israel.

“This is unprecedented in seven years: that Israel directly targets Iran’sRevolutionary Guard,” Nasrallah said.

“This is a turning point for the region, and what came before is not whatwill come after,” he warned.

In Israel, the army said Friday that an Iranian drone it which infiltratedthe country from Syria before being shot down had been armed withexplosives and was primed to carry out an attack.

Israeli warplanes had retaliated the same day, attacking the “Iranian base”inside Syria from which the drone was allegedly launched.

One of the planes was downed by Syrian air defences, crashing in Israel asits two pilots were hospitalised.

Israel is believed to have carried out numerous raids inside Syria since2013 but it rarely admits to them publicly, although it does say it wantsto curb Iranian influence in Syria.

It declined to comment on accusations by the Syrian and Russian governmentsthat it was behind the T-4 strike. – APP