Israel Warns Against Travel to Turkey Citing Iran Assassination

Konyaaltı beach amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya, Turkey, June 19, 2020. (Reuters Photo)
Konyaaltı beach amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya, Turkey, June 19, 2020. (Reuters Photo)
TT

Israel Warns Against Travel to Turkey Citing Iran Assassination

Konyaaltı beach amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya, Turkey, June 19, 2020. (Reuters Photo)
Konyaaltı beach amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya, Turkey, June 19, 2020. (Reuters Photo)

Israel on Monday warned its citizens against travel to Turkey, citing Iranian threats of revenge for the assassination last week of a Revolutionary Guards colonel.

Teheran has blamed Israel for the killing of Hassan Sayad Khodai, who was shot dead at the wheel of his car by two people on a motorcycle and has vowed retaliation.

According to Reuters, Israel's National Security Council said in a statement that Tehran could be looking to harm Israelis in Turkey and classified it as a "high-risk country."

Turkey is a popular tourist destination for Israelis and the two countries have been mending their ties after more than a decade of strained relations.

Israel has accused Khodai of plotting attacks against its citizens worldwide.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office, which oversees intelligence agency Mossad, has declined to comment on the assassination but Bennett said on Sunday that Teheran would "pay the full price" for instigating attacks on Israelis.



Iran Condemns the Killing of Embassy Staffer in Damascus

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)
TT

Iran Condemns the Killing of Embassy Staffer in Damascus

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)

Iran denounced on Sunday the killing of one of its embassy staffers in Damascus describing the act as a “terrorist attack”.
The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, condemned the killing of Seyed Davood Bitaraf, a local staff member at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.
“Davood Bitaraf was martyred last Sunday in a terrorist attack by individuals who opened gunfire at his vehicle in Damascus”, Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Baqaei.
He added that Bitaraf’s body was found and identified and then transported back to Iran in the past few days.
The spokesman emphasized that the Syrian transitional government must take responsibility for identifying the perpetrators of this crime, bringing them to justice, and ensuring they are held accountable.
He also confirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is closely monitoring the matter through appropriate diplomatic and international channels.
In earlier statements, Baqaei had said that the reopening of the Iranian embassy in Damascus is contingent upon ensuring the security of the embassy and its diplomatic personnel.
Following the overthrow of Bashar Assad's regime by Syrian armed factions on the 8th of December, the Iranian embassy, which had been stormed, was closed. Since 2011, Iran has supported Bashar Assad's government in its fight against armed groups.