Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared this Tuesday (17) that the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria does not mean that “resistance in the region will end”.
Khamenei also told the crowd that “Israel will be eradicated,” not Hezbollah forces. The people gathered shouted “death to Israel”.
Meanwhile, during a press conference, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaee mentioned that there has been no communication from the new US administration regarding next steps.
The comments come as Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian prepares for a visit to Egypt to discuss regional and bilateral issues.
Relations between Egypt and Iran have been tense in recent decades, but the two countries have stepped up high-level diplomatic contacts since the start of the Gaza crisis in 2023.
Understand the conflict in Syria
The Assad family regime was overthrown in Syria on December 8, after 50 years in power, when rebel groups took over the capital Damascus.
President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country and is in Moscow after gaining asylum, according to a source in Russia.
Syria’s civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.
Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.
Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”
Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to combat the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.
After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.
Find out who the Syrian rebel leader is and the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad
This content was originally published in Events in Syria will not deter resistance, says Iran’s supreme leader on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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