29 Mar 2024
Iranhas dismissed reports thatIsraels attack inSyriaearly yesterday targeted advanced Iranian-made missiles on their waytoHezbollahinLebanon, callingthempsychological operationsaimed at undermining the Iran-led Axis of Resistance.


By inserting itself into the furor following the attack, Iran highlights how Syria's local civil war has been sucking in every key actor in a volatile region, and turning it increasingly toward a full-blown a proxy war. Between Israel's strikes and Iran's overshadowing presence in the analysis after the attack, there is little doubt that the risk of spillover now looms larger.

Western and Israeli news reports quoted intelligence officials stating that Israel targeted a consignment of Fateh-110 missilesintendedfor Hezbollah, which would have bolstered the Lebanese militant group's already-extensive missile arsenal, enabling it to reachTel Avivand much of Israel from southern Lebanon.

Comments by IransSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneitoday also underscored the increasing sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict. He warned that the recent desecration of a Shiite shrine nearDamascusby rebel Sunni extremists with an evil mindset risked fanning Shiite-Sunni hostility.


Iran: Syria, Hezbollah don't need us


Hezbollahreportedly already has such missiles, as well as a Syrian-made version. For decades, Iran has used Syria as a conduit to provide such weaponry to Hezbollah in its fight against Israel.

Iran's top brass were careful with their choice of words, claiming that Syria had no reason to have any Iranian-made weapons that Israel might want to target and that Hezbollah no longer needed such Iranian hardware, either.

Basically speaking, the Syrian government does not need Irans weapon assistance. These types of reports mostly serve [a] psychological and propaganda campaign, Irans deputy armed forces commander, Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, told the Al Alam TV network.

Fortunately, the Resistance movement has become mature enough to defend itself very well against any kind of aggression, said Jazayeri,according to Fars News Agency. What [Palestinian]Hamasemployed to defend itself [and] Hezbollah military capabilities are totally homemade.

The strike was Israel's second in recent days against Syrian government targets. Damascus'sallies Iran, Hezbollah, andto a lesser degreeRussia have lined up against whathas becomea proxy fight with theUSand Sunni nations likeQatarand Turkey.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attacks, which Syrias Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called a declaration of war.

Israel has insisted it is not seeking to take sides in Syria's civil war,but it will take action to prevent Syria and Iran from supplying "game-changing" weapons to arch-foe Hezbollah.

Iran's stake

Israels attack could affect Iranian calculations. Last January, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a possible presidential candidate in June 14 elections, warned that an attack against Syria would be considered an attack on Iran itself.

Rebel fighters and Syrian civilians in rebel-held territory have often reported seeing Iranian fighters and even snipers during clashes, but have produced little evidence.Iranian Revolutionary Guardofficers last year confirmed they had a presence on the ground inSyria.

Iran has tread a fine line since the Syrian uprising first erupted in March 2011, in the course of the Arab Spring rebellions that toppled Arab dictatorships inTunisia,Egypt, and eventuallyLibya.

Officially, Iran has cheered the other successful uprisings as part of a desirable people-power Islamic Awakening. But when it comes to close ally Syria the only Arab nation thatsupported Iranin the 1980s Iran-Iraqwar Iran has sided with the regime, calling those who took to the streets to change it terrorists.

Syria has provided strategic depth in the Arab world for Irans pan-Islamic message of revolutionary resistance against Western hegemony, and provided direct access to the frontline fight against US-ally Israel.

As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide them with the training, but we wont have any active involvement in the operations, official Iranian media quoted Irans armed forces commander Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan as saying on Sunday.

TheSyrian Armyhas accumulated experience during years of conflict with the Zionist regime [Israel] and is able to defend itself and doesnt need foreign assistance, said Gen. Pourdastan.

Sectarian tensions

Speaking to Iranian officials today, Khamenei condemned the rebel attack on the mausoleum of Hujr Ibn Adi, a close companion of the Muslim prophet Mohammad who was also close to Imam Ali, the 7th-century figure revered by Shiites as the first Imam. The remains were reportedly exhumed and taken away by Islamist rebels of the Nusra Front; pictures posted online showed an empty grave and its ornate covering destroyed at the site near Damascus.

Muslims reaction to this bitter [incident] and condemnation of this move should continue [or] conspiracies will not stop at this limit, Khamenei said,according to Fars News. The news agency also paraphrased Khamenei saying the clear footprints of enemies [were] revealed in such sacrilegious moves.

Irans Speaker of ParliamentAli Larijanicalled the desecration the Syrian terrorists new crime, using the term used by the Syrian government to describe the rebels arrayed against it.

Condemnation of the shrine attack even came fromYemen, where Yemenimediareported the leader ofthe rebellious Shiite Houthi communitysaying, "This action which has been done in line with the Zionists criminal plots seeks to increase religious intolerances.

By The Christian Science Monitor

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.

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