TEHRAN (AFP): Tehran said Tuesday it had brought home 4,000 Iranian citizens from Syria following the ouster of its ally Bashar al-Assad as rebels took over Damascus.
“Over the past three days, 4,000 Iranian citizens were returned to Iran,” Fatemeh Mohajerani, a spokeswoman for Iran’s government, said at a press conference in the capital.
On Sunday morning, assailants rummaged through furniture and documents at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, according to a footage.
Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said embassy staff had vacated the building prior to any assault and all diplomats were in good health.
“The Islamic Republic, in contact with the parties responsible for recent developments in Syria, has warned about this issue [the storming of the embassy] and called for the prevention of the recurrence of such attacks,” Baghaei said.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations warned against the violation of diplomatic and consular premises in Syria after the fall of the Damascus government.
In a letter for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and President of the UN Security Council, the envoy expressed Iran’s concern about attacks on diplomatic sites in Syria.
