‘MY VISIT to Syria comes in the framework of the political meetings which are held periodically with Syrian officials to discuss and follow the latest political developments on Syrian, regional and international affairs,’ Senior Aide of the Iranian Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs, Ali Asghar Khaji told SANA news agency.
He was speaking in a press statement following a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem.
Khaji affirmed that the deployment of the Syrian Arab Army in border regions with Turkey would consolidate security and stability on Syrian territories and consolidate sovereignty of the Syrian state on its lands, hailing victories and achievements gained by the army in the face of terrorist organisations.
Khaji added that the meetings with the Syrian officials dealt with the latest developments related to the field and political files in Syria, in addition to the Libyan file.
He pointed out the latest achievements gained by Syria, and its dealing positively and constructively with the work of the committee of discussing the constitution.
As for the Iranian stance regarding the Israeli aggressions on Syria, Khaji said that Iran has completely condemned, during an Ankara meeting, the Israeli heinous aggressions on Syria, pointing to Syria’s stance which condemned the US military aggression on the Iraqi territories.
‘Iran and Syria categorically reject and oppose any presence for US troops on Syrian territories,’ Khaji stressed.
Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Fayssal Mikdad, said for his part, in response to a question about the Syrian stance towards the US presence on the Syrian lands, that Syria and Iran are in one war against terrorism, calling on the international community to support the two states in this war.
Mikdad also called on the states which are involved in supporting terrorism, including the US, to stop this support because the world has revealed its ugly face, particularly after the US bloody aggression on Iraqi popular mobilisation forces.
‘We are always ready to offer sacrifices in defence of Syria’s territorial integrity .… any US, western or any other foreign illegitimate presence on Syrian territories will be dealt with as an aggression and illegitimate occupation of Syrian lands,’ Mikdad stressed.
As for the Syrian stance towards the Turkish penetration into the Syrian lands, and the so-called Turkish points of observation, Mikdad said that Syria knows the Turkish intentions, and it will deal with any Turkish presence on Syrian territories as an occupation.
- Meanwhile, Turkish occupation mercenaries are targeting Um al-Khair village in Tal Tamir countryside with heavy weapons.
Terrorist organisations operating under the command of the Turkish occupation troops have attacked with heavy weapons Um al-Khair village, west of Tal Tamir town in Hasaka northern countryside, at a time when the Turkish occupation is working on sending hundreds of terrorists to Idlib to compensate for the high number of deaths in their ranks as a result of the operations of the Syrian Arab Army in the areas of their deployment.
SANA’s reporter in Hasaka said that mercenaries of the Turkish occupation on Tuesday morning targeted with heavy weapons Um al-Khair Village, west of Tal Tamir, causing huge damage to the houses of the civilians.
Terrorist groups affiliated with the Turkish occupation troops on Monday burned a number of houses in the village of al-Arisha, on the road of Ras al-Ayn-Tal Tamir at a time when the Turkish occupation forces are trying to bring more of terrorists’ families and make them live in the houses of the locals in Ras al-Ayn City.
As of Tuesday they put about 150 of the terrorists’ families in the houses of the locals in the northern side of the city.
On the other hand, local sources and pages on the social networking websites which belong to terrorist organisations said that terrorists’ leaders of the so-called ‘National Army’ have selected 1,500 members of terrorist groups positioned in Hasaka northern countryside and equipped them with heavy and medium weapons and prepared them to be sent to Idlib city to compensate for the shortage in the ranks of the collapsing terrorist groups due to the victories and progress achieved by the Syrian Arab Army units during their operations in Idlib southern countryside.
On December 24th, Turkish occupation forces transferred about 100 terrorists from ‘Jaish al-Islam’ terrorist organisation out of the areas where they are positioned in Hasaka northern countryside to make them engage in battles in Idlib southern countryside in an attempt to support the collapsing terrorist organisations there.
- Three civilians on Wednesday were martyred, and four were injured in a car bomb blast in Slouk town, Raqqa northern countryside.
A SANA reporter quoted local sources as saying that a car bomb was exploded in Slouk town in Tal Abyad countryside in Raqqa northern countryside, causing the martyrdom of three civilians and the injury of four others.
The car bomb blast also caused material damage to the houses and properties, according to the sources.
The forces of the Turkish regime and its mercenaries of the terrorist groups have occupied the town of Slouk in Tal Abyad countryside since last October, after shelling its neighbourhoods with all kinds of weapons and systematically destroying its infrastructure – which forced its locals to leave their homes.
- A military source announced on Tuesday that armed terrorist groups, positioned in the surroundings of Midan Ghazal and Ma’ar Htat regions, launched a number of rocket shells on safe villages and towns in Hama and Idlib countryside which were recently liberated from terrorism in al-Ghab plains and Khan Sheikhoun.
The source added that the attack led to the martyrdom of one officer and the injuring of many others, in addition to material damage in properties in the towns of Jourin, Ayn Salmou, Asilah and al-Mahrousa.
‘The army units immediately responded to the sources of fires, targeting centres of command of the terrorists and killing a big number of them in addition to destroying the launch-pads of the rockets,’ the military source affirmed.
- Wikileaks has leaked new documents regarding the probe by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into an alleged chemical attack in Syria, showing that a senior OPCW official ordered the removal of a ‘dissenting’ report.
One of the published documents shows Sebastien Braha, chief of cabinet at the OPCW, ordered in an email that ‘all traces’ of a report from Ian Henderson, a then-OPCW inspector in Syria’s Douma, be erased from the body’s registries.
‘Please get this document out of DRA (Documents Registry Archive) … and please remove all traces, if any, of its delivery/storage/whatever in DRA,’ the email read.
The findings of Henderson claimed that two cylinders, found in the alleged chemical attack site and thought to have probably contained chemicals, were likely manually placed in the area rather than dropped from a plane or helicopter.
Only terrorists controlling the area had land access to the area at the time.
Wikileaks claims the email was leaked from an exchange between senior OPCW officials and the body’s fact finding mission deployed to the Syrian city to investigate claims of an alleged chemical attack in the area April last year.
Another OPCW email exchange released by the whistleblower website last Friday showed that the body had ordered its eight inspectors in Douma – except one, a paramedic – be excluded from discussions on the probe in July 2018.
A third leaked document detailed discussions between the OPCW and four toxicologists with expertise in chemical weapons.
The experts claimed that ‘no correlation’ had been found between symptoms observed among the alleged chemical attack victims and chemicals possibly used in such an attack, according to the leaked document.
‘The symptoms observed were inconsistent with exposure to chlorine and no other obvious candidate chemical causing the symptoms could be identified,’ the document read.
The revelations are the latest batch of leaks undermining the official report of the OPCW regarding the incident in Douma, which was released in March last year.
The OPCW report claimed that a ‘toxic chemical’ had been used during the alleged chemical attack in Douma, but stepped short of blaming any party for the incident.
The new documents along with previous leaks, however, show that the OPCW may have intentionally doctored its findings, notably avoiding revelations which may point to terrorist hands being behind the alleged chemical attack.
The leaks come as the Syrian government, which surrendered its entire chemical stockpile in 2013 to a mission led by the OPCW and the United Nations, has also strongly rejected the chemical attack allegations as a staged event to frame Damascus.
The US and its allies, however, were at the time quick to blame the Syrian government, launching a coordinated missile strike on the country – despite having no proof that Damascus used chemical weapons.
