Guterres condemns attack on Iranian diplomatic complex in Damascus | middle East

UN Secretary-General António Guterres this Tuesday condemned an attack on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Damascus, calling on all parties involved to exercise “maximum restraint and avoid further escalation”, while Turkey said the The previous day’s attack, attributed to Israel, could lead to the expansion of the conflict in the region, and Iran promised revenge for the attack that killed two generals and five other soldiers.

Guterres “warned that any miscalculation could lead to an expanded conflict in an already volatile region, with devastating consequences for civilians who are already seeing unprecedented suffering in Syria, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, and the Middle East in broader sense,” said spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, quoted by Reuters.

From Turkey, a statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack and attributed it to Israel (the Hebrew State very rarely takes responsibility for attacks abroad).

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Tuesday that the attack in Damascus “will not go unanswered”. The country’s supreme leader, the ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the “Zionist regime” (Iran refuses to use the term Israel) and promised that it will be “punished at the hands of the brave men [do Irão]”.

You average Iranian publics said authorities thought the target of the attack was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the dead generals.

The USA, remember the Washington Postincluded Zahedi on a list of Iranian officials subject to sanctions in 2010, saying that he was the head of the Al-Quds Force (the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations abroad) in Lebanon and that he was the “liaison” between the Hezbollah and Syrian intelligence, including sending weapons.

Washington denied having anything to do with the attack, considered the most serious for Iran since the US killed the head of the Al-Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, when he was passing through Baghdad in 2020 – Soleimani was responsible for the strategy Iranian support for armed movements in the region, from the Lebanese Hezbollah to the Yemeni Houthis.

Four Israeli officials told the New York Times under anonymity that this attack was carried out by Israel.

Even without commenting on authorship, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told CNN that the target was not a diplomatic installation. “According to our information, it is neither a consulate nor an embassy. It is an Al-Quds Force military building disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”

Analyst Ali Vaez, director for Iran at the International Crisis Group, told New York Times that “attacking a diplomatic installation is comparable to attacking Iran on its own territory”.

“For years, Israel and Iran have been involved in what has commonly been called a ‘shadow war,’” Vaez said on social media site X. “The attack highlights the fact that this is increasingly a misnomer, as tensions are rising on several fronts.”

Iranian analyst and historian Arash Azizi commented to Washington Post that this attack is distinguished from others because of “the building where Zahedi and his colleagues were, which is owned by Iran, and is next to the embassy”, which makes this attack “an escalation” and means that “there has been no precedents”.

Therefore, Iran will be under pressure to retaliate, but, says Vaez, the decision is not easy, since, by not retaliating, the Iranian military presence in Syria is compromised. “However, if they respond, they will fall into the trap that they believe Israel is setting for them to enter into direct war.”