The Islamic Republic of Iran Retreats on its Syria Threat?

As the possibility of a military strike against Syria by the US and some European countries grows, ayatollah Khamenei and some of the senior members of Iran’s armed forces reacted to the issue and unlike in the past, retreated from their earlier threats to retaliate, while still calling Syria the “resistance line” and condemning war and its outcome.

Two days ago the country’s supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei met Iran’s new cabinet members and in his remarks on the occasion made a reference to the Syrian crisis and an imminent US military strike. “The US has threatened and announced its intention to intervene. This will most certainly be a catastrophe for the region. The Americans will most certainly face a loss; they should know this; just as they did in Iraq and in Afghanistan. This will be another loss for them,” he said.

He continued, “The intervention of non-regional and foreign powers in a state – whether in Syria or others – has no meaning other than playing with fire ad war-mongering. It increases people’s hatred of them, disgraces them further in the region without providing any clarity for the future. This is really a region where if a spark is ignited, one does not know what it will result in.”

During this meeting, ayatollah Khamenei raised his hands in prayer and said, “We hope God will rid this region of the US, Zionism and other evil-wishers while protecting our country, our nation, our people, our government, us, and our president and keep his under his support and protection.”

Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s supreme armed forces command, General Hassan Firuzabadi, also spoke on the possibility of military action against Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria. “Any new operations in the region will bring about a lot of damage and will not benefit anyone except Zionists. This will be a big harm to the human civilization and its reach will not remain limited to the Muslim world,” he said.

General Firuzabadi continued, “The Americans, the British and their other allies will be harmed by their military intervention in the region and Syria. Any military action against Syria will push the Zionists towards fire.”

Another general, this one from the Revolutionary Guards, Masoud Jazaeri, who is known for his harsh positions against Western countries and their military actions in the region and usually speaks in threatening language, this time softened his tone and merely presented advice over a war in Syria. “An attack against Syria is not just an act against the innocent Muslim people of Syria but is a treacherous act against humanity, including the American people and the West, and the outcome of such a dirty action is not predictable,” he said.

But he clearly stayed away from repeating an earlier threat that Iran’s

armed forces would support Assad’s regime if Syria was attacked, and instead said, “In case of a military action by the anti-Syrian front, ‘the people of Syria will resist’, and the result of this resistance will be victory and positive image. God willing, the fire of such an event will catch the Zionists.”

Another military commander, Mohammad Ali Aziz Jaafari, the top Revolutionary Guards commander also spoke on the issue and told Tasnim news agency which is operated by the Guards, “The US government along with some of its allies have been trying to strike at the ‘resistance front’ in the region by fully supporting terrorists and equipping them with all sorts of weapons. Now too, following the disgraceful defeat of the terrorists by the resistant Syrian people in the proxy war they are turning to direct military threats.”

He further asserted, “Despite their vast bitter experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Americans will be complementing their domino defeats if they undertake military operations against Syria and shall experience the most disgraceful defeat in history as Syria will turn into a spot even more dangerous than Vietnam.”

He then echoed the words of Khamenei and other military commanders that “Zionists should know that a US military attack on Syria not only will not save the fake regime from the resistance battle but the attack will result in the imminent annihilation of Israel. Some regional states and regressive Arabs who are supporting a military strike against Syria should know that the fire of this militarism shall not remain confined to Syria but shall engulf all the war mongers and their supporters.”

There has been an international outcry over Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against its opponents and initially the US government and then subsequently others such as Britain, France and others have talked of imminent punitive air strikes against Syria.

Syria has been facing a growing armed opposition in the last two years and more recently the conflict has turned into a civil war. Some international news reports have been saying for a while that the Syrian government has on numerous occasions engaged in the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Since protests movements began in the Arab world about three years ago, Iranian leaders have called it the “Islamic awakening”, as opposed to the term Arab Spring used by others and their exception is their view of events in Syria where they call the opponents of Bashar Assad’s regime international terrorists backed by Israel and some Western countries and interpret the events in that country to be aimed at hurting the Islamic republic of Iran.

It should be noted that last year too when NATO threatened to intervene in Syria after Syria and Turkey exchanged artillery across each other’s border, Iranian military commanders initially threatened to engage military in support of Syria but then withdrew their threats and retreated.