The governments of Iran and Syria blamed Israel for an attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, in which Iranian Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Mohamed Reza al Zahedi and his assistant, General Mohammad Haji Rahimi, were killed, according to Tehran state media.
The Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, claimed to Iranian state agencies that the building “was the target of six missiles (fired) from Israeli F-35 warplanes.”
“Between five and seven people died in the attack. I was in my office at the embassy at the time and personally witnessed the destruction,” Akbari said. Israel has not admitted or commented on the attack for now.
“The Zionist regime (Israel) acts against international laws, which is why it will receive a harsh response from us,” said Akbari.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian called the attack on the consulate “a violation of all international obligations and conventions” and also attributed it to Israel.
“I emphasize the need for a serious response from the international community to such criminal actions,” Abdollahian said in a joint statement with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, according to a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry.
The Iranian diplomat also considered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has completely lost his mental balance due to the successive failures of the Israeli regime in Gaza”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least eight people were killed in the attack that destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, including seven Iranians.
Although it has not yet commented on this attack, in February, the Israeli Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council to warn that Iran was intensifying the shipment of weapons to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah through Syria.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz emphasized at the time that this had been happening since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip and that Israel has the “inherent right” to “defend its territory and its citizens”.