This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog. 

Did you see what just happened in Damascus?  In an absolutely stunning move, Israel took out the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.  Needless to say, the Iranians are absolutely furious and they are promising a “harsh” response.  For a long time, I have been warning my readers that an apocalyptic war in the Middle East will be one of the conflicts that define World War III.

The good news is that the war in the Middle East has not escalated to an apocalyptic level yet.  But after what we witnessed on Monday, we are just one step away.

The building that was destroyed by the IDF airstrike was reportedly directly next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus…

A building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus has been destroyed in an airstrike, reportedly killing a senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and five others – with state media saying Israel was behind the attack.

Pictures show the building in Syria’s capital razed to the ground, with huge plumes of smoke rising from the site following the explosion this afternoon and emergency workers rushing to the scene.

This particular building was apparently the residence of the Iranian ambassador to Syria.

The Syrian government says that the missiles that destroyed this building were fired from the Golan Heights…

The Syrian Ministry of Defence responded with a statement.

“This evening, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus,” it said.

“Our air defences responded to the missiles and shot down some of them. The aggression led to the destruction of the entire building and the martyrdom and injury of everyone inside.

“Work is underway to recover the bodies of the martyrs, treat the wounded and remove debris.”

It appears that the IDF was targeting a gathering of very important regional leaders.

Mohammad Reza Zahedi was among those who were killed.  He was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps…

The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was confirmed killed in the strike, alongside several other Iranian diplomats visiting the Syrian capital.

The IRGC-managed Fars News agency announced the commander’s death on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Another important Iranian military official named Haji Rahimi is also dead…

Haji Rahimi was named as the second commander killed in the attack on Iran’s consulate building in the Syrian capital, according to the statement shared by state news agency IRNA on Monday night.

Haji Rahimi was reportedly a coordinator for the Quds Force, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News.

This was a major victory for Israel, but the Iranians will inevitably respond.

In fact, Iran’s ambassador to Syria has already publicly stated that the response will be “harsh”…

Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari, who was not injured, said at least five people had been killed in the attack and that Tehran’s response would be “harsh.”

The Iranian Embassy in Lebanon said that the “barbaric Israeli aggression is a flagrant violation of international laws, diplomatic norms, and the requirements of the Vienna Convention.”

We shall see what Iran chooses to do.

As Zero Hedge has aptly noted, if Iran’s response is too severe, it could spark “an all-out regional war”…

Depending on Iran’s response, this could be the start of an all-out regional war. For months now, Iranian-made ballistic missiles and drones have rained down on Israel, fired by Iran’s proxies in Lebanon and Yemen. This new brazen Israeli attack on Iran’s embassy takes things into uncharted territory, and also opens up the potential for the Iranians to target Israeli embassies abroad.

Of course, the Iranians have already been escalating matters.

Prior to the IDF airstrike on Damascus on Monday, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq used a drone to attack a key naval base in southern Israel…

In a significant first of the Gaza war marking a very serious escalation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed that a drone which slammed into a naval base in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat early Monday morning was launched from Iraq.

The IDF its statement said it identified a “suspicious aerial target” that breached Israeli airspace “from the east” before making impact “in the Eilat Bay area” on the Red Sea. While this isn’t necessarily the first instance of Iraqi militant groups claiming to have fired on Eliat, it appears to be the first time that direct impact was made on an Israeli navy base and that the IDF has confirmed it.

How far can both sides push one another before events spiral completely out of control?

Sadly, we are getting dangerously close to a point of no return.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government is also having to deal with violent anti-Netanyahu protests all over the nation…

Israeli police violently clashed with protesters across the country last night, as tens of thousands took to streets across the nation to oppose Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership during the Israel-Hamas war.

Protesters from all parts of Israeli society flooded streets to share their rage at the Israeli prime minister and his handling of the war in Gaza that has so far left nearly 33,000 people, most of whom are civilians, dead.

And police took extreme measures to get them under control, with photographers capturing brutal moments where cops dragged demonstrators across tarmac and beat them into submission.

Benjamin Netanyahu certainly isn’t going to allow such protests to alter the course that he has set.

He continues to insist that the war will never be won unless the IDF goes into Rafah…

Israel will defeat Hamas by entering the terrorist stronghold of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and destroying the remaining battalions there, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Sunday night.

“There is no victory without entering Rafah; there is no victory without destroying the Hamas battalions there,” said Netanyahu in a primetime address, adding that the operation “will take time, but it will happen.”

The premier reiterated that only a combination of military pressure and tough negotiations would bring about the release of the remaining 134 hostages taken to Gaza by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7.

As I discussed last week, it appears that a ground operation in Rafah will begin either this month or next month.

While all of this is happening in the Middle East, we desperately need strong leadership in the White House.

Instead, either Joe Biden or Kamala Harris will be running things until at least January 2025…

Only 38 percent of likely 2024 voters believe President Joe Biden will be alive at the end of another four-year term, according to an exclusive poll for DailyMail.com.

And that means one thing: Vice President Kamala Harris is just as likely to be in the top job as Biden come January 2029 if he wins reelection.

Some 36 percent of likely voters believe Harris will be president at the end of the term. The exact same proportion as think Biden will be in the job.

When the time comes to make absolutely critical decisions regarding the conflict in the Middle East, do you trust either of them to be up to the job?

For a long time, we have been warned that the Middle East would eventually erupt in flames.

Now we are right at the door.

Unfortunately, most people in the Western world have no idea how bad this war in the Middle East is going to become.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  You can connect with Michael on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, and sharing his articles on your own social media accounts is definitely a great help.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.