Damascus, Tehran reserve right to respond to Israeli strike on consulate: Syrian ambassador

Syria’s Ambassador to Russia Bashar al-Jaafari says his country and Iran reserve the right to take retaliatory action and decide about the reaction and punishment in response to the Israeli attack on the consular section of the Iranian Embassy in the Syrian capital.

Speaking during a Tuesday press briefing at the Russian Media Center in Moscow, Jaafari said “Israel’s unlawful attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus speaks for itself. To what extent has the international law been downgraded?”

“This act ran against international rules and regulations ... Naturally, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the acceptable law in the world. Iran and Russia, therefore, reserve the right to respond to the Israeli attack according to their desired plan,” the Syrian diplomat pointed out.

On April 1, Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, located next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district.

The attack killed two senior Iranian military personnel who were on an advisory mission to Syria as well as five of their accompanying officers.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were among the seven martyrs of the terrorist attack.

Israel accelerated its collapse with attack on Iran’s consulate: Top IRGC general

A senior IRGC commander says Israel’s terrorist attack against Iran’s diplomatic premises in Damascus will accelerate the regime’s collapse.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has vowed that Iran will “punish” Israel and make the evil regime “regret” its crime of assassinating the country's military advisors in Syria.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi has also said Israel had resorted to indiscriminate assassinations after back-to-back failures in the face of the resistance, warning that the regime’s latest crime against Iranian military advisers in Syria “will not go unanswered.”

Israel’s policy of assassinations ‘horrendous’ 

The Syrian envoy also said Israel has committed numerous mistakes and crimes over the past decades, describing its policy of assassinations as "horrendous."

He noted that Israel's policies have "backfired," saying, “The recent developments in Gaza over the past six months and Israeli strikes have rallied many people behind Palestine. Even those who once held negative opinions about the matter made up their mind, and organized mass rallies in European countries.

He pointed to worldwide rallies in support of Palestinians, including demonstrations in the US, which is the main ally and supporter of Israel.  

“In the United States, protesters gathered in front of the White House and chanted slogans in solidarity with Palestinians and in condemnation of Israel's terrorist acts that have severely tarnished the regime’s image across the globe. Attacks on Gaza would not bring security to Gaza,” Jaffari pointed out.

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