Elsewhere in his remarks, Kharrazi, a former foreign minister, pointed to the global cooperation to resolve the Syrian crisis, saying that there is a possibility of cooperation between Iran and Europe over the issue. But in an exclusive report Tuesday, Reuters said two senior officials confirmed on the condition of anonymity operations by the Syrian army and allied Hezbollah and Iranian forces for an upcoming offensive in Aleppo.
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“We have military advisers in Iraq and Syria at the request of the governments of the two countries …”
The offensive came as a senior Iranian official told reporters in Damascus that Tehran would consider sending troops to Syria only upon a request from the Syrian government.
The Islamic Republic views the Syrian regime as its main strategic ally in the region and as a part of an “axis of resistance” against Israel.
Qatar-backed London daily, Al-Arabi al-Jadid , also alleged Iranian troops in Syria, though it says many of them are actually Afghans living in eastern Iran, having been displaced by the Afghanistan wars.
Following the rising Iranian death toll in Syria, Iranian officials have become vocal in vowing to crush “takfiri terrorists”.
“What’s important is that Iran is serious about the fight against terrorism”, he added. Compared to the U.S., the European reaction to the Russian military action in Syria has been more nuanced, given Moscow’s own diplomatic effort to portray it as a “common good” against the scourge of terrorism, thus prompting calls, e.g., by the German foreign ministerSteinmeir for a new diplomatic initiative based on an extensive worldwide contact group for Syria in order to reach a political solution in Syria.
As for the tense relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, he said that “we are not after eliminating Saudi Arabia”. A few are directly fighting Assad’s army, while others are fighting ISIS fighters. He said Syria had become the arena for the struggle between its enemies (the United States, Europe and the Arab states) and its friends (Iran, Russian Federation and China).
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“It began in Jobar with limited, precise and effective operations against lines of defence used by armed groups to observe the rest of the capital”, the source said. On top of that, a few rebel groups are fighting Kurdish militias, an ethnic group that is pushing for independence.
