In a Monday message for Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Syrian Arab Republic Hussein Arnus, Zarif expressed his sympathy with the Syrian Foreign Ministry and the family of Walid Muallem, who served as the Arab Republic’s top diplomat for the last 15 years.
The Iranian foreign minister also paid tribute to his late Syrian counterpart for his prominent role in serving the Arab country and protecting its national interests and security.
Muallem passed away at the age of 79 on Monday. The cause of his death was not immediately revealed, but back in 2014 he reportedly underwent heart surgery at a Beirut hospital.
Muallem served as Syria’s top diplomat since 2006 while also serving as the country's deputy prime minister since 2012, over almost the entire nearly decade-long foreign-backed militancy in Syria. Back in the 1990s, he was Syria's ambassador to the US.