Embassy Attacked in Damascus: Israel Tests Iran’s Strategic Patience

On April 1, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria. Iranian media has since reported that six Iranian nationals were killed in the attack, including Brigadier General Mohammad Zahedi, who previously served as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force’s field commander in Syria; Major General Mohammad Haji-Rahimi, who reportedly served as Zahedi’s deputy, and Brigadier General Hossein Amin-Allah, the Quds Force’s chief of staff in Syria and Lebanon. The suspected Israeli attack follows a pattern of previous Israeli attacks in Syria and is likely to be met with the same response from Iran: strategic patience.

• April 1: Nour News, the official mouthpiece of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported the suspected Israeli attack without commentary.
• April 1: Hossein Akbari, Iran’s ambassador to Syria, said, as quoted by centrist Iranian Students’ News Agency: “The Zionist regime has violated internationally recognized redlines … The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond to this terrorist attack at an appropriate time and in an appropriate place.”
• April 1: Also without commentary, centrist Asr-e Iran provided the names and ranks of Zahedi, Haji-Rahimi, and Amin-Allah.
• April 1: IRGC mouthpiece Mashregh News, quoting Akbari, reported that two of the Iranians killed in the attack were embassy security personnel.
• April 1: Centrist Farda News, reporting on a phone conversation between the Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers following the attack, quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian as saying:
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has totally lost his mental balance due to the continuous losses of the Zionist regime in Gaza … The attack against the Iranian Consulate in Damascus violates all international conventions, and Israel is responsible for its consequences.”
• April 1: Reformist Entekhab News released a short biography of Zahedi that resembles the Persian-language Wikipedia page of the slain commander.

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