A senior Iranian official says the developments that have unfolded in Syria over the past three years are a vindication of Iran’s position on the crisis in the Arab country.
“When the crisis began in Syria,” said Director of the Iranian Expediency Council’s Center for Strategic Research Ali Akbar Velayati, “the West used to think that the Syrian establishment would soon collapse; however, it has become clear now after three years that, contrary to what the United States and some European countries thought, the Syrian system is a robust one.”

“This is a testimony to the standpoint of the Islamic Republic and Russia, who opposed foreign intervention in Syria from the outset,” said Velayati, who was speaking in a meeting with Director of Russia’s Institute of Oriental Studies Vitaly Naumkin in Tehran on Wednesday.

Velayati, who is also a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said that the developments in Syria have had detrimental effects on the region.

“As a result of these same developments,” he added, “extremists and terrorists have poured into Iraq and have now brought insecurity to a section of western Iraq.”

Syria has been gripped by a deadly conflict since 2011, with Western powers and their regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - supporting the militants operating inside the country.

More recently, violence broke out in Iraq’s Anbar Province, where the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) penetrated to carry out terrorist operations.

Naumkin, for his part, pointed to Russia’s efforts in preventing an illegal foreign military campaign against Syria and the ongoing measures to destroy the Middle Eastern country’s chemical weapons arsenal.

The director of Russia’s Institute of Oriental Studies also hailed Iran’s role in the region as “undeniable.”

Iran and Russia have long been advocating a political solution to the crisis in Syria, rejecting any foreign intervention in the country.

By Press TV

 

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