Tehran, Apr 22 (IANS): Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised the country's armed forces for their massive retaliatory military operation against Israel earlier this month.

He made the remarks in a meeting with several Iranian high-ranking military commanders while pointing to the missile and drone attack Iran launched against Israel on April 19, in response to the Israeli airstrike on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Syria's capital Damascus on April 1, which killed seven Iranians, including two veteran commanders, according to a statement published on Sunday on his website.

Khamenei said in that operation, Iran's armed forces demonstrated their capabilities and power and displayed a "commendable picture" of the Iranian nation, Xinhua news agency reported.

He also pointed out that instead of the number of missiles Iran had fired or how many of them had hit the target, the most important thing is that the operation has proved "the willpower" of Iran.