Iran, a staunch supporter of the deposed Syrian president, has repatriated 4,000 of its nationals since rebels seized Damascus and toppled Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, according to the Iranian government.

“In the past three days, 4,000 Iranian citizens have been repatriated to Iran from Syria on ten Mahan Air flights,” Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said today when asked about the situation in the region.

“The removal of those who still remain there is on the agenda and the process will continue until the last Iranian leaves,” she added.

Some 10,000 Iranian nationals have been living in Syria in recent years, according to official figures.

Syria and Iran have long-standing friendly ties following an rapprochement in the 1970s by Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, long before the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But the rebels’ seizure of power in Damascus threatens to change the situation.

On Sunday, Iran’s embassy in Syria was ransacked, an act previously unthinkable in an allied country.

Iran had invested both politically and militarily in Syria under Bashar al-Assad by sending those Tehran presented as “military advisers” to support his army during the civil war.

Tehran, however, has never reported any formal deployment of troops to the country.

There are no more Iranian forces in Syria, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami assured today, according to local media.

Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on this claim.