Ali Akbar Velayati, the top foreign policy adviser to Iranian supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, defended Iran's presence in Syria.
"Iran is in Syria legitimately and based on the invitation of the Syrian
government. Those who have to leave Syria are the ones who have not been
permitted by the Syrian government,” Velayati said on the sidelines of a
conference at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran.
Velayati’s remarks came shortly after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said
he was "quite concerned” about an incident Saturday in which Israel claimed an
Iranian drone crossed into Israeli airspace. Iran denied Israeli accusation.
The Trump administration has closely aligned itself with Israel and has
supported its calls to contain and isolate what they claim as "Iran’s growing
influence across the Middle East".
Both the U.S. and Iran have supported campaigns against the Isis militant group
in Iraq and Syria, but tensions have spiked since the group was declared
defeated in the both countries. Saturday’s violence between Israel and Syria
coincided with a deadly clash between the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and
pro-Syrian government forces also fighting ISIS in the eastern province of Deir
Ezzor.
The U.S.-led coalition destroyed a Russia-built T-72 tank, reportedly killing up
to three of its operators. Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of
U.S. Air Force in the Middle East, said Tuesday that the tank had approached and
fired on positions held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mostly Kurdish
Pentagon-backed group that included Arabs and ethnic minorities, before it was
bombed by a U.S. drone.
The incident came only days after the U.S.-led coalition killed up to 100
pro-Syrian government forces in eastern Syria as Moscow senator called it "an
unprecedented act of aggression.”
The U.S. has said it would stay even after ISIS was defeated to prevent a
"jihadi resurgence".
Source:Al-alam