Tehran, IRNA - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has expressed condolences for the martyrdom of Davoud Bitaraf, a local staff member of Iran's embassy in Damascus, Syria.

On Saturday, Baghaei expressed his condolences to the Iranian people and the family of Davoud Bitaraf, a local staff member at Iran's embassy in Syria, who was tragically martyred when his vehicle was shot by "terrorist elements" in Damascus on December 15.

Baghaei strongly condemned this "criminal act", noting that Bitaraf's body had been found, identified, and returned to Iran in recent days.

Martyr Bitaraf served as a professor at the Damascus Seminary and was the Imam of the holy shrine of Hazrat Ruqayyah (SA) for over twenty years.

Baghaei also reminded Syria's transitional government of its responsibility to identify and punish those responsible for this crime, emphasizing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pursuing the matter seriously through various diplomatic and international channels in an appropriate manner.

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