CAIRO

Egypt voiced deep concern Saturday for an Iranian drone and missile attack against Israel and urged the regional rivals to exercise self-restraint.

A Foreign Ministry statement said Cairo is “deeply concerned” about signs of a recent dangerous escalation between the two sides.

It urged both to exercise “utmost restraint to spare the region and its peoples further instability and tension.”

Egypt said the current Iranian-Israeli escalation “is a direct result of what Egypt has repeatedly warned about the dangers of expanding the scope of the conflict in the region."

Egypt “is in constant communication with all concerned parties in an attempt to contain the situation and stop the escalation, and to spare the region the risks of sliding into a dangerous turn of instability and threat to the interests of its peoples,” it said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) confirmed Saturday that it had launched dozens of drones and missiles at Israel in response to last week’s attack on its consulate in Syria.

The Israeli army said the drones are expected to take hours to reach their targets.

At least seven IRGC members were killed, including two top generals, in a missile attack April 1 on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, Syria,

Tehran has blamed Israel for the attack.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala