Iran Opens New Consulate In Syria's Damascus Week After Alleged Israeli Strike Levelled Old Premises

The Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian inaugurated a new Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, a week after a deadly strike allegedly ordered by Israel destroyed the former consulate building in the Syrian capital, in a development that threatens to destabilise the entire West Asian region.

Iran is a close ally of Syria and its embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

A report by AFP said that the new consulate was not far from the premises destroyed by the strike in the upscale Mazzeh area. The Mazzeh area also houses other foreign embassies as well as UN offices. Amir-Abdollahian is also meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. He told Syrian government mouthpiece Al-Watan that he will ‘mainly focus’ on repercussions of the alleged Israeli strikes on the Iranian consulate when he meets the Syrian President.

Iran has vowed retaliation against Israel as the alleged strike on Iranian embassy’s consular section killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members, including two high-ranking generals – Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the elite Quds Force, and Brig-Gen Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, his deputy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian inaugurated the new consular section in a Damascus building in the presence of his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, whom he also met earlier Monday, state news agency SANA said.

A separate report released Monday by news outlet AFP said that Zahedi, the senior commander in the Quds Force, the Guards’ foreign operations arm, was a member of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, the powerful Lebanese group’s decision-making body.

Damascus and Tehran blame Israel for last Monday’s raid, but it has not commented.

The strike came against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which began with the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Iran’s foreign minister began a regional tour Sunday in Oman, long a mediator between Tehran and the West, where Muscat’s foreign minister called for de-escalation.

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned on Sunday that Israeli embassies were “no longer safe” after the Damascus attack.

Analysts saw the raid as an escalation of Israel’s campaign against Iran and its regional proxies that runs the risk of triggering a wider war beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 16 people were killed in the consulate strike: eight Iranians, five Syrians, one member of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and two civilians.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out 13 years ago, targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions and weapons depots.

It rarely comments on individual strikes, but Israel’s raids have increased since the Gaza war began.

Tehran backs Palestinian militants Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the group’s October 7 attack, which sparked massive Israeli retaliation in Gaza.