Iran’s former top general in Syria has revealed that Tehran pushed the since-deposed Syrian leader Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
to open an additional front against Israel as it battled terror groups Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...and Hezbollah over the past 15 months.
In a recording cited by the New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
on Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati said ties with Assad had been strained prior to the Syrian regime’s collapse at the beginning of December, over his refusal to let Iran-backed militias open a new front against Israel from Syria.
Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
had presented Assad with detailed plans to use Iranian resources in Syria to attack Israel, but despite multiple requests, he refused to let them go ahead, Esbati said.
Esbati spoke last week at a Tehran mosque, and his comments were reported in Iranian media on Monday, the NY Times said. In other remarks, Esbati acknowledged that the Islamic Theocratic
Republicwas "defeated very badly" by the fall of Assad, despite Iranian leaders’ repeated efforts to downplay the matter.
He also was said to play down the notion of Iran again directly attacking Israel and accused Russia of shutting down radar systems in Syria during alleged Israeli attacks on Iranian resources.
The fall of the Assad regime came amid an ongoing war in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
Strip that began on October 7, 2023, when the Iran-backed Paleostinian terror group Hamas led thousands of forces of Evil to attack Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
The next day Hezbollah began attacking along Israel’s northern border. That conflict also spiraled into an open war that ended with a fragile ceasefire at the end of November after Israel largely decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and resources.
In addition, other Iranian proxies, such as militias in Iraq and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to Americaâ„¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s rebels, have also fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war started.
Despite the ostensible refusal of Assad to sanction the opening of a Syrian front with Israel, there were several rocket attacks from Iran-backed groups in Syria at northern Israel in the past 15 months, though apparently not at the scale Iran had sought. Such attacks had also occurred from time to time before the war started.
Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets at Israel during the same period.
Days after the battered Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in late November, the Assad regime fell, marking two major strategic setbacks for Iran. Hamas, too, has been greatly diminished by the war in Gaza, with many senior figures killed, including two of its long-time leaders.
Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah are all avowed to destroy Israel.
"I don’t consider losing Syria something to be proud of," Esbati said "We were defeated and defeated very badly. We took a very big blow and it’s been very difficult."
For decades, Iran and Syria were key strategic allies. Tehran used Syria to supply its proxy Hezbollah terror group in Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
with weaponry, and Iranian military advisers as well as Hezbollah helped the Assad regime battle Lions of Islam during the country’s prolonged civil war.
But in December rebel forces surged across Syria and ended the Assad regime’s 50-year rule. Since then, the new government has sought to reassure the world that it seeks regional stability and has opened channels of communication with several Western nations, while also talking to Iran.
Esbati accused Russia of saying it was bombing rebel forces in Syria when it was in fact dropping munitions on open fields. He further claimed that over the past year, as Israel allegedly stepped up bombing a campaign on Iranian resources in Syria, the Russians "turned off radars," enabling the strikes.
According to the report, Esbati oversaw Iran’s military operations in Syria and worked closely with the country’s ministers, defense officials, and Russian generals. Moscow was also an ally of the Assad regime and provided military support, including significant air power, during the civil war.
Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of aerial raids on Iranian targets in Syria but generally does not comment on specific attacks.
In light of the heavy Russian presence in Syria, Israel in September 2015 set up a mechanism with Moscow — involving work groups led by the deputy chiefs of both militaries — to avoid conflicts and potentially fatal misunderstandings.
Despite Assad’s ouster, Esbati said Tehran will still look for ways to enlist fighters in Syria regardless of who runs the country.
"We can activate all the networks we have worked with over the years," he was quoted as saying. "We can activate the social layers that our guys lived among for years; we can be active in social media and we can form resistance cells."
"Now we can operate there as we do in other international arenas, and we have already started."
The report noted that Iran faces public and political opposition in Syria, as well as Israeli warnings that it will act to destroy any Iranian military buildup.
Esbati’s speech at the Valiasr Mosque in central Tehran was titled "Answering Questions about Syria’s Collapse."
During a question and answer session, Esbati said that Iran was not planning to again attack Israel, as it did twice last year.
"The situation" at the moment means another attack is not realistic, the report cited Esbati as saying. Across the Middle East, multiple arenas are waiting to see what steps the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
will take after he takes office on January 20.
Esbati also explained why Iran did not directly attack US military bases in the area, saying that would only bring a larger retaliation from the US and its allies. Esbati noted that some Iranian missiles would not escape US air defense systems.
Nonetheless, he offered his listeners assurances that Iran was still the dominant force in the region, the report said.
An Iranian member of the powerful Revolutionary Guards who worked in the past as a strategist in Iraq, where Iran also wields control over powerful militias, told The Times that Tehran has held meetings on forming a Syria strategy. Though no policy has been decided, there is agreement that chaos would benefit Iran.
Fighting over the past 15 months also drew in Iran directly when it fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in April and October last year. Both attacks were largely thwarted by Israeli air defenses in cooperation with the US and its regional allies.
Following the second attack, Israel carried out widespread strikes on Iran for the first time, pounding its air defense systems and rocket manufacturing capabilities.