If not for Iran, DAESH” (IS, ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group would rule the entire Syria, says Major General Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, said Iran has helped the Syrian government to stand against the terrorist group, IRNA news agency reported May 23.
The general in charge of Iran’s paramilitary activities in the Middle East said the United States and other powers were failing to confront DAESH, and only Iran was committed to the task, a news agency on Monday reported.
“Today, in the fight against this dangerous phenomenon, nobody is present except Iran,” AMCnews agency quoted Soleimani as saying on Sunday in reference to DAESH.
“Obama has not done a damn thing so far to confront Daesh: doesn’t that show that there is no will in America to confront it?” AMCnews quoted Soleimani as saying, using a derogatory Arabic term for DAESH.
“How is it that America claims to be protecting the Iraqi government, when a few kilometres away in Ramadi killings and war crimes are taking place and they are doing nothing?, said Soleimani.”
Iran views the Syrian regime as its main strategic ally in the region, as well as a part of the “axis of resistance” against Israel.
Tehran has always expressed support for the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Western countries accuse Iran of running military operations in Syria, but Tehran denies those accusations. Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that they only provide military consultations to the Syrian forces.
Soleimani further said the US has been forced to back off from all of its purposes in the region.
The Islamic Republic is definitely the winner on all the frontlines in the region, he said, adding however Iran’s presence on certain frontlines in the region is not significant.
He said for instance, Tehran has a very low presence in Yemen, but the “enemies” are facing defeat in the country due to their “wrong logic.”
As a result of the war in Yemen, the Shiite group Ansarollah’s power in the country has been consolidated, added Soleimani.
Yemen has been in turmoil since September 2014, when Shiite rebels overran the capital Sana’a, forcing ex President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Since March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition, which includes Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, has been battling the rebels to restore Hadi to power.
Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of providing military support to the Yemeni Shiite rebels, something that Tehran denies.
