Senior Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow, July 12, 2018 (IRNA)
Iran’s regime has rejected any withdrawal of its forces from Syria, pushing back pressure from the US and Israel.
The Supreme Leader’s top aide Ali Akbar Velayati said on Friday, after talks in Russia, “Iran’s presence in Syria will continue. Iran will not leave Syria because of US threats. We are there to protect Syria from terrorism.”
Using the term “advisors” to cover all of Tehran’s personnel in the 88-month conflict, he asserted, “Iranian military advisers are in Syria and Iraq because the two countries’ government have asked us to deploy them.”
Iran’s military support has propped up the Assad regime since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011. The Islamic Republic expanded its initial intelligence, logistical, and advisory role in 2012 with the mission to create a 50,000-strong militia to cover for a depleted regime army. Then from 2013 Iran turned to foreign militia, working with Hezbollah and bringing in Iraqi, Pakistani, and Afghan militia to serve as frontline troops.
The Revolutionary Guards and its Quds Force have also supplied personnel, and there has been deployent of special forces units from the Iranian army.
As the Trump Administration has withdrawn from the July 2015 nuclear deal and expanded sanctions, it has demanded an Iranian departure. Perhaps more importantly, Israel — which has cooperated since 2015 with Russia since autumn 2015, the essential ally of the Assad regime — is pushing Moscow to restrict Iranian involvement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also in Moscow this week for meetings with President Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu has publicly demanded that Iran leave all of Syria, although reports indicate discussions are focusing on an exclusion zone 80 km (50 miles) from the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
As Russian officials shuttled between Netanyahu and Velayati, the Iranian official addressed the Valdai Club in Moscow. He gave an implicit warning that Iran could circumvent any Israeli and US challenge with covert operations:
We coordinate the Iranian presence in Syria with Russia and Syria. We will be present there the way we consider necessary. Sometimes we will play our role in Syria open-handed, sometimes we will do it with our hands hidden.
He defied Washington, “We have come there without the Americans’ permission and we won’t heed their demands to leave.”
But Velayati’s main message was for Putin and his advisors, calling on Russia to stand up to the Americans and Israelis:
I told the Russian officials: Now the Americans are telling you that the Iranians must leave Syria and tomorrow they will ask you what you are doing in Syria. They are trying to split our alliance.
