Iranian Leader’s Top Aide Asks Withdrawal of Uninvited Foreigners from Syria

TEHRAN – Iranian Supreme Leader’s top adviser for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati dismissed the western calls for ending Tehran’s military advisory role in Syria, stressing that other foreign troops who have been deployed in the Arab country without permission should withdraw.

“Iran is present in Syria at the invitation of the legal Syrian government,” Velayati told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday, according to Fars News Agency.

“Those who are in Syria without the permission of the legal government should leave the country,” he added.

In relevant remarks last Wednesday, Velayati underlined that his country will help the Syrian people and their allies foil Washington’s plots to disintegrate Syria and create a Kurdish state on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran supports Syria’s territorial integrity and doesn’t accept any aggression against the Syrian territories,” Velayati said.

“The Americans want to disintegrate the Syrian territories and have done the preliminary moves to create and recognize an independent country in Eastern Euphrates in the Kurdish-populated region but certainly this will not be materialized,” he added.

Velayati expressed confidence that Iran will help the Syrian people and their allies to prevent the US dreams come true, and said, “Certainly, we will defeat the Americans in this evil desire.”

Also earlier this month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that Washington is seeking to disintegrate Syria, adding that Tehran will firmly stand against the plot.

“We oppose the presence in Syria by the Americans who have incorrect goals in the region and are thinking of disintegrating Syria,” Rouhani told Iranian and foreign reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

He also referred to Turkey’s military operations in Northern Syria against the Kurds, and said, “We have good relations with Russia and Turkey but it is our principled position that deployment of a country’s army in another country’s territories should be carried out with the consent of the second country’s people and government and therefore, we want this operation which doesn’t yield any results but killing people to stop.”

President Rouhani foresaw good future for relations among Tehran, Ankara and Moscow, adding that during recent phone talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the latter has stressed the necessity for holding a summit with the participation of the three countries’ presidents.

M.Wassouf