ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran will continue to stand beside its Syrian ally after the war and will help Damascus combat terrorism, Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami has emphasized to his Syrian counterpart Fahd Jassem al-Freij.
"Iran is determined to stay beside its Syrian brothers in the post-war era," Hatami told Freij in a phone call, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Freij acknowledged Iran's support to “foil terrorist-Zionist groups' plots," IRNA reported, and said Iran has backed the Syrian government in its defence of its sovereignty.
"The invaluable coordination between Iran and Syria guarantees stability and security of the two countries and the region," he said.
Syria's state-run news agency had no immediate readout of their phone call.
Iranian leaders have blamed the United States and "the Zionists" for attempting to break up northern Syria.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing of the People's Protection Units (YPG) were partnered ground forces in the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. The party is also the main force behind the Kurdish-led Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria which aims to establish a semi-autonomous enclave in the area commonly known as Rojava.
The YPG are the dominant force in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who ousted ISIS from Raqqa last month. An advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader said this week that Syrian forces and their allied Iranian-backed militias would soon turn their sights on the city.
“We will witness in the near future the advancement of government and popular forces in Syria and east of the Euphrates, and the liberation of Raqqa city,” Ali Akbar Velayati said, according to Reuters.
Damascus, in the seventh year of a civil war and combatting ISIS in the country, has largely left the Kurds alone though it has called the Rojava administration “illegal.” The foreign minister, however, in September indicated that Damascus would be open to discussions about the formation of an autonomous region within Syria’s borders, but only after the war.
Tehran, an ally of Damascus, has condemned what it sees as a wider American-Zionist plot to destabilize the Middle East through support of Kurdish aspirations.
“The breakup of the region is a serious threat and the US is taking advantage of the leverage of Kurds in Iraq and Syria to fulfill this objective and the Zionists are after Balkanizing the region,” said Iranian Parliament's General Director of International Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday.
The accusation is similar to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei's claims that the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum in Iraq was “treason and a Zionism plot.”
The United States has backed the Kurds in both countries in the war against ISIS, but has not supported Kurdish bids for further autonomy in Syria or Iraq. The Americans opposed the latter's independence vote.
The United States is concerned that Tehran is looking to build a so-called Shiite Crescent connecting Iran with Lebanon via Iraq and Syria.
"Iran is determined to stay beside its Syrian brothers in the post-war era," Hatami told Freij in a phone call, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Freij acknowledged Iran's support to “foil terrorist-Zionist groups' plots," IRNA reported, and said Iran has backed the Syrian government in its defence of its sovereignty.
"The invaluable coordination between Iran and Syria guarantees stability and security of the two countries and the region," he said.
Syria's state-run news agency had no immediate readout of their phone call.
Iranian leaders have blamed the United States and "the Zionists" for attempting to break up northern Syria.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing of the People's Protection Units (YPG) were partnered ground forces in the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. The party is also the main force behind the Kurdish-led Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria which aims to establish a semi-autonomous enclave in the area commonly known as Rojava.
The YPG are the dominant force in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who ousted ISIS from Raqqa last month. An advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader said this week that Syrian forces and their allied Iranian-backed militias would soon turn their sights on the city.
“We will witness in the near future the advancement of government and popular forces in Syria and east of the Euphrates, and the liberation of Raqqa city,” Ali Akbar Velayati said, according to Reuters.
Damascus, in the seventh year of a civil war and combatting ISIS in the country, has largely left the Kurds alone though it has called the Rojava administration “illegal.” The foreign minister, however, in September indicated that Damascus would be open to discussions about the formation of an autonomous region within Syria’s borders, but only after the war.
Tehran, an ally of Damascus, has condemned what it sees as a wider American-Zionist plot to destabilize the Middle East through support of Kurdish aspirations.
“The breakup of the region is a serious threat and the US is taking advantage of the leverage of Kurds in Iraq and Syria to fulfill this objective and the Zionists are after Balkanizing the region,” said Iranian Parliament's General Director of International Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday.
The accusation is similar to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei's claims that the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum in Iraq was “treason and a Zionism plot.”
The United States has backed the Kurds in both countries in the war against ISIS, but has not supported Kurdish bids for further autonomy in Syria or Iraq. The Americans opposed the latter's independence vote.
The United States is concerned that Tehran is looking to build a so-called Shiite Crescent connecting Iran with Lebanon via Iraq and Syria.
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