Presidential Hopeful: Syria Paying Price for Resistance against West’s Bullying

Iranian Presidential hopeful Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel rapped the western states’ double-standard approach towards regional developments, and said they have taken a hostile stance against Syria because the Muslim nation has stood against the bullying of the world powers.

“When the Islamic Awakening started, they (the western powers) went after Syria and popped up with mottos like democracy and freedom, as if no other Arab country, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, had any problems,” Haddad Adel, a former parliament speaker and a potential candidate in the June presidential election, said Sunday.

“From among all Arab states, it was just Syria which didn’t raise its hands to surrender and was devoted to the resistance front” and therefore the world powers punished this country by sending their mercenaries and terrorists and launching Israeli airstrikes on it, added Haddad Adel, who is now a parliament member and an advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader.

Explosions shook Damascus early on Sunday and Syrian state television said Israeli rockets had struck a military research center on the outskirts of the capital.

In relevant remarks today, a Syrian lawmaker said that Israel stages air raids on Syria whenever the Syrian army makes huge advances and takes back control of important and strategic centers from the terrorists.

“The Israeli attacks increase after the Army’s advancements in the battlefield in previous days,” Syrian legislator Sharif Shahadah said.

He noted Tel Aviv’s deep concern over the Syrian army’s recent victory over the rebels in Al-Qasir, and said that Zionists are seeking to damage the morale of the Syrian army to make the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad to retreat from the recently conquered areas and avoid fighting terrorists.

The blasts occurred a day after an Israeli official said Tel Aviv had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles in Syria. The research center hit on Sunday was also targeted by Israel in January.

“The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army,” Syrian television said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against rebels.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on Sunday’s explosions.

Late in January, the Syrian Army said in a statement that two people were killed and five others injured in an Israeli air strike on a scientific center in Jamraya, 25 kilometers (15 miles) Northwest of the capital Damascus.