This footage was filmed and produced 1 April 2024.

Storyline:
Syria and Iran on Monday expressed strong condemnation over the Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate building in the Syrian capital Damascus earlier in the day.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, who arrived at the scene following the missile strike, condemned the attack and stressed that the move would not affect Syrian-Iranian relations.

Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari, said to reporters at the scene that Israel's F-35 fighter jets had launched missiles targeting the Iranian Consulate's building and he was in the building of Iranian Embassy when the airstrike occurred.

He added that Iran will respond to Israel's attack on the Iranian Embassy with equal force.

In a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry after the attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a phone call with Mekdad.

Mekdad condemned in strongest terms Israel's "criminal" attacks and called them "a flagrant violation" of international law, particularly the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries.

Amir-Abdollahian, for his part, said the attack violated all international obligations and conventions, stressing that Israel would be responsible for the consequences of the action.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement that Iran, while reserving its right to take countermeasures, would consider its response to the attack and determine the appropriate punishment for the "aggressor".

According to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), a total of seven people, including two senior Iranian commanders, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the building of the Iranian Consulate.

Shotlist:
1. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari, officials walking; Faisal Mekdad shaking hands with Hossein Akbari in Damascus, Syria - April 1, 2024.
2. Various of damage of Iranian Consulate building, smoke, firefighters putting out fire at scene;
3. Tablet of consular section of Iranian embassy;
4. SOUNDBITE (Farsi, with Arabic interpretation) Hossein Akbari, Iranian Ambassador to Syria:
"The consular section of the embassy has served the Iranian people for 30 years. On the upper floor of the consular section is the ambassador's residence. This building is not newly built, but used for years. All the Syrian people know that this is the Consulate building of the Iranian Embassy. Israel's actions violate all norms of international law. They have committed crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, against the Lebanese people, against the Syrian people, and against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and elsewhere."
5. Various of ruins, damage of Iranian Consulate building.

[RESTRICTIONS: No access Chinese mainland/Orient TV/Syria Alshaab TV/Zanoubia TV/Alhurra TV/ANN]