Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in the Syrian capital on Sunday to reaffirm Tehran’s firm support for Damascus amid the surprise offensive by foreign-backed Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria.
Speaking to reporters before his departure, Araghchi said: ‘Today I am leaving for Damascus to convey the Islamic Republic’s message to the Syrian government. We firmly support the Syrian army and government.’
He added that Iran makes no distinction between the Israeli regime and the Takfiri terrorists.
‘We believe that following the Israeli regime’s failures, the enemy is trying to implement its sinister goals of spreading insecurity in the region via these same terrorist groups.’
Araghchi said the Syrian army, as in the past, will achieve a victory in the face of these terrorist groups, and these foreign-backed Takfiri terrorist groups are doomed to failure in the face of resistance forces defending the region.
He added that West Asia is witnessing new conspiracies every day, and today it is the presence of Takfiri terrorist groups that are moving in the same direction with the US and Israel.
During his stay in Damascus, the Iranian foreign minister and his delegation plan to hold talks with the Syrian authorities on bilateral relations and regional developments.
The resurgence of terrorists in Syria, and ways to battle them, the anti-terror fight and support for the Syrian government and nation, as well as peace and stability in the country are among key topics of the talks.
In a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, Araghchi said the resurgence of Takfiri terrorism in northern Syria is part of an American-Israeli project that aims to spread insecurity in the West Asia region.
He added that Iran, Russia and regional countries, particularly Syria’s neighbouring states, must maintain vigilance and improve coordination to ‘thwart this dangerous plot and counter terrorists’ measures in Syria.’
On Friday, terror outfits led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allied terrorist factions launched their largest assault in Syria in years and took control of parts of the country’s second-biggest city, Aleppo, and advanced southward toward the city of Hama.
However, the Syrian army announced later that it had thwarted the large-scale terrorist operations through a preemptive strike.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011, with Western countries and their regional allies aiding terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.
In this latest terrorist assault, the Syrian army was able to target the militants’ positions, with President Bashar al-Assad vowing to defend the country’s stability and territorial integrity.
HTS is known to have allied with the Israeli regime in its efforts to target Syria’s counter-terrorism push.
On Sunday, Russian and Syrian warplanes struck militant positions in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib to repel the foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorist assault, and government forces pressed ahead with their counter-offensive, intensifying bombing of militant-held areas in northwest Syria near the border with Turkey to push back the militant offensive for the second day.
The Syrian army also said it had recaptured several towns that had been overrun in recent days, regaining control over Jobas village and forcing the militants out of the villages of Dadikh and Kafr Battikh, east of Idlib.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops are now regrouping and reinforcements are also being sent to Aleppo to help in the counter-offensive against the foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists after they swept into the city last Friday, according to army sources.
The terrorists, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched a large-scale attack in Aleppo and Idlib provinces in the northwest of Syria last Wednesday, seizing several areas.
Since then, the Syrian government forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists to regain ground.
The Syrian army said it had inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists who had attacked a wide front, adding that it was cooperating with Russia and ‘friendly forces’ to regain ground.
The onslaught on Aleppo, marking the sudden resurgence of Takfiri terrorism, came immediately after Israel agreed to a ceasefire in its war on Lebanon where Hezbollah had put up fierce resistance to Israeli troops trying to occupy pockets of the country’s south.
Shortly after the announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group, backed by the Israeli regime, launched a fresh aggression on the Syrian city of Aleppo
Thousands of members of the Takfiri terrorist group, popularly known as Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), launched the offensive against Aleppo in northwestern Syria on Wednesday.
Using rocket launchers and mortars, they made daring advances in the Qabtan al-Jabal, Bala, and Sheikh Aqil areas of western Aleppo before the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) confronted them.
In a well-coordinated counter-offensive, with the help of the Russian Air Force, SAA has so far killed more than 1,000 terrorists, most of them foreign mercenaries, according to the Syrian media.
In his remarks on Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said terrorism only understands the language of force, and the Syrian military would use force to crush the terrorist group.
Terrorist groups participating in the attack on Aleppo include primarily Tahrir al-Sham, but also Jaysh al-Izza, Suqour al-Sham, Ansar al-Tawhid, Hizb al-Turkistan, Ahl al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham and various other splinter Takfiri groups patronised by the Israeli regime and Western powers.
Some media reports suggested that the Turkey-backed ‘National Army’ militia also participated in the offensive alongside HTS, claiming that Ankara aims to leverage this opportunity to pressure the Syrian government into entering new negotiations to normalise relations with Ankara.
The Turkish government, however, has denied any involvement in the events unfolding in Aleppo.
Tahrir al-Sham, known in full as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a terrorist group based in Syria that was formed in 2017 as a result of a merger between the Jabhat al-Nusra, Jabhat Fateh, Ansar al-Din, Jaysh al-Ahrar, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq, and Haraka Nour al-Din al-Zenki groups.
It was established as an attempt to unite terrorist groups and create a united front against the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, however, many of these groups later separated from Tahrir al-Sham or disbanded after a while.
Its core, Jabhat al-Nusra, a branch of the al-Qaeda terrorist group in Syria, made changes in its name and structure in the past years to distance itself from this parent organisation and to attract more domestic and international support.
Tahrir al-Sham is active in the northwestern regions of Syria, especially in Idlib province, and is considered one of the main players in the West-backed Takfiri war against the Syrian government.
In addition to fighting with government forces, Tahrir al-Sham has also entered into conflict with many other armed groups, including former allies.
Widely known for atrocities against Syrian civilians and government forces, Tahrir al-Sham is designated as a terrorist organisation by many countries, including the United States and Russia.
While the US has, on paper, put it on the blacklist, Washington’s support has kept the group going.
Tahrir al-Sham follows the Takfiri ideology, a set of extreme ideas that emerged from Arabian Salafism, but has consciously tried to present an image independent of al-Qaeda and other similar groups.
Leading Islamic authorities have compared Takfiri ideology to an invasive species that attempts to uproot all other variations and bring them to the brink of extinction.
This intolerant and hate-driven ideology spread thanks to the influence of rich petrostates and their donations, with the encouragement and approval of Western powers who saw it as a useful tool.
Western media often emphasises their wider ‘Sunni’ prefix instead of narrowing it to extremist Takfiri ideology, which is in line with the adopted policy of spreading discord among Muslims and misrepresenting counter-terrorism as the so-called ‘Sunni-Shia conflict’.
