Israel Bombs Iran Embassy in Syria, Guards Commander among Dead

Smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria April 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria April 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Bombs Iran Embassy in Syria, Guards Commander among Dead

Smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria April 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria April 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Syria on Monday in an escalation of Israel's war against Iran's regional proxies, flattening a building in a strike Tehran said killed a top Revolutionary Guards commander and several diplomats.

Reuters reporters at the site in the Mezzeh district of Damascus saw emergency workers clambering atop rubble of a destroyed building inside the diplomatic compound, adjacent to the main embassy building. Emergency vehicles were parked outside. An Iranian flag hung from a pole in front of the debris.

The Syrian foreign minister and interior minister were both spotted at the scene.

Israel has long targeted Iranian military installations and those of its proxies in Syria, and has ramped up those strikes in parallel with its campaign against Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Monday's attack was the first time the vast embassy compound itself had been hit.

Israel typically does not comment about attacks by its forces on Syria. Asked about the strike, an Israeli military spokesperson said: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media".

The Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, who was not injured, said at least five people had been killed in the attack and that Tehran's response would be "harsh".

Iranian state media said one of those killed was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and that Tehran believed he was the target of the attack.

Syrian state media said at least six people were killed and several more were injured.

The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Since Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which precipitated the war in Gaza, Israel has escalated airstrikes in Syria against both Iran's Guards and the Tehran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, both of which support the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

On Friday, Israel carried out its deadliest strikes in months on northern Syria's Aleppo province and killed a senior Hezbollah fighter in Lebanon. It has also regularly struck the airports in Aleppo and Damascus in an attempt to halt Iran's weapons transfers to its proxies.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had stopped advanced weapons, including shrapnel charges and anti-tank mines, from being smuggled into the West Bank from Iran.

It said the weapons were uncovered during an operation against a Lebanese-based operative of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who it said was recruiting agents to smuggle weapons and carry out attacks in the West Bank. 



Sudan, Russia Agree on Port Sudan Naval Base

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)
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Sudan, Russia Agree on Port Sudan Naval Base

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)

Sudan and Russia have reached a final agreement on the establishment of a Russian naval base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Yusuf al-Sharif announced on Wednesday.

The plan has been discussed for years but never materialized due to the volatile security situation in Sudan.

The deal allows Russia to set up a naval base with up to 300 Russian troops, and to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in the strategic Port Sudan.

“There are no obstacles, we are in complete agreement,” Sharif said following talks in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

He did not elaborate on the terms of the current agreement, and whether the two sides had introduced new amendments to the deal reached between the two countries in 2017.

Lavrov avoided mentioning the military base, but said that during the meeting with Sharif, both sides paid special attention to the war in Sudan.

“We are interested in normalizing the situation in this friendly country, our good traditional partner in Africa, as soon as possible,” the Russian FM said.

“We reaffirmed our principled position on the need for an early cessation of hostilities along with the launch of a national dialogue, which should include representatives of all political, ethnic and religious groups in Sudan,” Lavrov said.

He noted that according to Sharif, the Sudanese leadership published two days ago a roadmap that should pave the way for progress in this direction.

Last December, Russia's embassy in Sudan refuted media reports alleging that the Sudanese authorities refused to host a Russian naval logistics support base.

Earlier in June, Mohamed Siraj, Sudan’s Ambassador to Russia, reaffirmed his country’s dedication to constructing a Russian naval base on the Red Sea.

In 2017, Khartoum and Moscow agreed during a visit by Sudan's ousted former president Omar al-Bashir to Moscow, to establish the base. But in 2021, weeks after Khartoum decided to freeze the deal, Moscow rushed to approve the binding agreement to establish the base in Sudan by passing it through all the legal mechanisms.

Russian President Vladimir Putin referred the agreement to the State Duma for ratification, in the second step of the final approval of the agreement after the Russian government formally ratified it a week earlier.

The Sudanese leadership had informed Moscow of its official position to freeze the deal through military and diplomatic channels.

A Russian source told Asharq Al-Awsat at the time that after referring the document to the Duma and Senate, Moscow is seeking to give it full legal force. This will allow Russia to negotiate later with Sudan to introduce some amendments.

Meanwhile in the Sudanese capital, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohamed Othman al-Hussein said that “Khartoum intends to review the agreement,” noting that it was approved by the previous government and not the parliament.

Despite Sudan’s position, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the agreement remains binding for both parties because it was signed on July 23, 2019, by the representative of the Transitional Military Council, that is, after the change of the political system in Sudan.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the document has not yet been ratified by the Sudanese party because there is currently no legislative authority in the country with such powers.
Zakharova hinted at Russia’s readiness to show flexibility in revising the text of the agreement and said Moscow was interested in strengthening cooperation with Khartoum.
She explained that even before the agreement enters into force, changes can be introduced to its text at the discretion of both parties.

The agreement stipulates establishing a logistics center for the Russian fleet on the coast of Sudan in the Red Sea. It grants Russia the right to use an operational logistic center in Port Sudan, provided that the maximum number of working personnel does not exceed 300 soldiers, and no more than four Russian warships will be able to stay there at one time.
The agreement is valid for 25 years, with the possibility of extension.