Canada's embassy in Damascus damaged by Israel's strike on Iranian consulate next door

Canada's embassy in Damascus was damaged in the deadly Israeli airstrike which slammed into the Iranian consulate next door and killed some 16 people, including top Iranian military commanders.

The Canadian embassy in the Syrian capital is next door to the Iranian consulate building which was hit in a targeted airstrike by Israel on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards Commanders including Quds Force Commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

Canada had not commented on the status of its embassy following the attack which triggered threats of a retaliation from Tehran and placed Israel's government on high-alert.

Canadian news outlet CBC, citing a source from the government's international development department Global Affairs Canada, reported on Tuesday that the embassy did sustain some external damage in the strike but no personnel were present in the building.

The embassy has not operated in Syria since 2012, following the brutal suppression of anti-Assad protests and the onset of the civil war, which saw several Western countries pull diplomats out of the country.

The report said that no official had yet managed to access the building to fully assess the damage.

Iran's large embassy complex is just two doors down from the Canadian embassy in the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus, where many foreign embassies are based.

CBC said that officials did not clarify whether the Israeli government notified Canadian officials about the strike on the Iranian embassy complex.

Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the strike in keeping with its policy of not recognising strikes conducted in other countries.

The attack sent shockwaves through Iran and was the deadliest attack on senior officials since the US assassinated top commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

A Building between the Iranian and Canadian Embassy in the Syrian Capital of Damascus has been Targeted and Totally Destroyed this morning by an Israeli Airstrike, with the Building reported to possibly contain High-Ranking Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). pic.twitter.com/wgUoFtz7HL

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 1, 2024

Tehran said it would respond "harshly" to the Damascus strike, and reportedly told the US to "step aside."

On Sunday, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei warned that Israel’s embassies were "no longer safe."

Observers commented that the attack was a major step up in Israel’s campaign against Iran and its regional proxies which risks escalating to a war beyond Gaza.

Iran inaugurated a new consular building in Damascus on Monday not far from the ruined former building, AFP news agency reported.