Following the attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, key questions remain unanswered. Israel is still making no statement, but is now expanding its air defense – according to media reports, in response to threats from Tehran.
The Israeli army wants to mobilize reservists for missile defense. After assessing the situation, it was decided to increase the number of personnel and call up reservists for air defense, the Israeli military said. The army did not explicitly state the reasons for this. Israeli media reported that the background was threats from Tehran.
After an air strike on an Iranian embassy building in Syria’s capital Damascus that left several people dead, Iran again announced retaliation. The attack “will not go unanswered,” said Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Iran’s Foreign Ministry assumes that arch-enemy Israel carried out the attack. The US government also believes that Israel is responsible. Israel did not comment on the incident.
Disagreement in World Security Council
The UN Security Council in New York failed to condemn the attack. The US, Britain and France rejected a statement drafted by Russia. Press releases from the 15-member council must be approved unanimously. The body had condemned attacks on diplomatic facilities several times in the past.
According to a report by the Reuters news agency, diplomats said that the US said at a meeting on Tuesday that many of the facts about what happened in Damascus were still unclear. It has not yet been confirmed that the building hit was a diplomatic facility. France and Great Britain supported the USA.
“This is a clear example of the double standards of the Western ‘Troika’ and its actual, and not just declaratory, attitude to legality and order in the international context,” wrote Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, on Platform X.
The EU and Germany urge restraint
The EU condemned the airstrike and called for restraint. “In this extremely tense regional situation, it is essential to exercise the utmost restraint,” wrote Peter Stano, a spokesman for the European Commission, on circumstances should be respected in accordance with international law.”
The federal government expressed itself more cautiously. “We are aware of the reports that this is an Iranian building, the Iranian embassy, that it was said to have been an Iranian consulate building,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin. “We also know of statements from other sources that deny this.” This cannot be verified conclusively.
“But violent measures or military operations directed against embassies or consulates carry dangerous escalation potential,” the spokesman added. “And any confirmed armed attack against an embassy or consulate would be a cause for concern.”