Foreign-backed militants, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, ransack the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus on December 8, 2024.

Tehran, December 8 (RHC)-- Iran has condemned the attack by foreign-backed militants, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on its embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus following the fall of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Videos circulated online Sunday showed the militants tearing down the poster that depicted martyred Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, at the diplomatic mission’s exterior. They also broke the windows of the embassy and looted its offices.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei later on Sunday said it is a fundamental principle of international law to protect the security and safety of diplomatic and consular premises and missions under any circumstances.  He added that all necessary strategies have been taken to ensure the security and safety of the staff of the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

The Iranian spokesperson noted that Iran’s ambassador to Damascus and the embassy’s staff “are in complete health.”  “In contact with the influential parties in the developments in Syria, the Islamic Republic of Iran has warned about this issue and called for preventing the repetition of such attacks,” Baghaei said.

The militants waged a surprise two-pronged attack on Syria’s Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib on November 27th.  Soon afterward, they seized control of several Syrian cities, including Hama, Homs, Dara’a, and Suwayda, before entering Damascus.