Supreme Leader’s Top Military Aide: 130,000 Terrorists Sent to Region by US in 80 Months

“The Americans have sent between 90,000 to 130,000 terrorists to Syria and Iraq in 80 months as countries such as the US, Israel, Turkey and Jordan wanted to overthrow Bashar al-Assad but Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah, somehow Iraq, and the Syrian people and army didn’t allow them,” Rahim Safavi said, addressing a forum in Tehran on Wednesday.

Noting that US President Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton have themselves admitted creation of the ISIL terrorist group by Washington, he blamed the US and Israel for coaxing officials of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region into holding an independence referendum to seccede from mainland Iraq.

Rahim Safavi also reminded that when the ISIL occupied Mosul in Iraq in 2014, KRG President Massoud Barzani was fooled by the US and Israelis and his friends helped the terrorists disarm the Iraqi army forces but the ISIL didn’t show mercy to the Kurds and advanced to areas near Erbil.

“But Iran prevented the collapse of Erbil,” he said.

Iran is providing Iraq and Syria with military advisory and humanitarian aid in their fight against terrorist groups.

Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani said in March 2016 that Takfiri terrorism threatens all Muslims, and Iran has waged war on those terrorists that trade enslaved women and children.

“The fire of Takfiri and Takfirism has engulfed in homes of our Sunni brothers. Those behind this are under the illusion that they can bring Shiism and the Islamic Republic to their knees. More than anywhere else, Takfiri groups have targeted the sanctity of humanity and the Sunni world,” General Soleimani said.

He then asked those behind the smear campaign to question Iran’s policy in its ongoing war on terror, “Is it adventurism if the Islamic Republic makes sacrifices to defend Muslims? Is it wrong for the Islamic Republic to battle a group that in just one region is buying and selling some 20,000 unfortunate enslaved young women? Is it wrong for the Islamic Republic to stand against the anti-Muslim current and stop the demolition of Mosques and Muslim holy sites?”