Islamist militants are a threat to the entire region, Abbas Araghchi has said
Tehran will support Damascus in beating back the jihadist onslaught in Syria, as it represents a danger to the entire region, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.
The al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) launched a surprise attack from its base in Idlib last week, violating a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Türkiye in 2020. HTS militants have taken the cities of Aleppo and Hama so far, displacing over 280,000 people.
“The Takfiri terrorist groups have hatched a long-term plot to cause insecurity and violence in the region,” Araghchi said on Friday, after meeting his Iraqi and Syrian colleagues in Baghdad.
“Our goal is to strengthen consultations and coordination in order to support the Syrian government and people,” he added.
At the Baghdad meeting, Iran and Iraq pledged to coordinate policy on Syria.The crisis in Syria has a “clear impact” on Iraqi security and needs to be contained, said Iraq’s prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
“It is imperative that we stand united to protect Syria’s unity, sovereignty and the safety of its people,” Iraqi President Latif Rashid said.
Earlier this week, Araghchi said that Tehran would consider an open military intervention in Syria should Damascus request it. Iran has already provided President Bashar Assad’s government with intelligence and satellite data, a senior official who wished to remain anonymous told Reuters on Friday.
“It is likely that Tehran will need to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria,” an Iranian official added on condition of anonymity, noting that Iran has already “taken all necessary steps to increase the number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy troops.”
Militants backed by the US and some regional powers launched an armed insurgency against Damascus in 2011. An al-Qaeda splinter used the conflict to declare itself ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’ (ISIS) in 2014. The following year, Russia sent an expeditionary force to Syria at Assad’s request and helped the government beat back both ISIS and other militants. Iran and the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah also aided Damascus.
Kurdish militias aided by the US helped defeat ISIS in northwestern Syria, but then refused to reunite with Damascus and kept control of the country’s farmland and oil deposits. Meanwhile, Türkiye intervened in 2017 to block the Syrian army from overrunning Idlib province, the last holdout of HTS. Ankara later pledged to support a political solution in Syria.
