TEHRAN (Tasnim) � If Takfiri terrorist groups gain control of Syria, Iraq will be their next main target, Head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati warned.





In a Wednesday meeting with a group of Iraqi clerics and scholars in Tehran, Velayati stressed that both Iran and Iraq should show sensitivity to the developments in Syria, because defeat of Syria will make the Takfiri terrorists take the next step in Iraq.

He also explained that enemies of the axis of resistance seek to redefine borders in the Middle East, including plots to ruin the national identity of Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine and disrupt unity in those nations, like what they inflicted upon Libya.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.

According to a new report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country�s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

Iraq has been also grappling with the threat of Daesh terrorists, who invaded the country in summer 2014.

By Tasnim News Agency