Strike on Syria will prompt attack against Israel: Iran deputy FM

Tue Sep 10, 2013 1:59PM GMT
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Iran Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warns that any strike on Syria will prompt an attack against the Israeli regime.

“The Zionist regime [of Israel] will be attacked by certain players including terrorist groups that have had activities in Syria over recent years,” Amir-Abdollahian said at a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

“Therefore, the war option will further complicate the situation,” he added.

“Our studies over the past days indicate that any war that breaks out in Syria will not remain confined [to Syria], and although the US speaks of a limited war, the Middle East realities show that in the event of war, [it] will not remain limited,” the Iranian official stated.

Amir-Abdollahian said certain countries that favor military strike on Syria are not aware of its consequences.

“According to our information, the Syrian army and people will seriously defend their country in case of an invasion,” he stated.

The US has based its recent threat for striking Syria on the unsubstantiated accusation that the Syrian government was behind a chemical attack near Damascus on August 21. The Syrian government has categorically rejected the allegation.

The White House, however, says it has no “irrefutable” evidence of the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons and that only a “strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence” suggests the Syrian army was responsible for the August poison gas attack.

Amir-Abdollahian urged the international community to support Russia’s proposal to Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control in order to avert a new war in the region.

The proposal, which has been “welcomed” by Damascus, was made during a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem, in Moscow on Monday in an attempt to prevent the US aggression against Syria.

Amir-Abdollahian further reaffirmed Iran’s stance regarding political solution to the Syria crisis.

“Iran, as the biggest victim of chemical weapons, condemns any use of them [chemical weapons],” he said, adding, “We support the Syrian people and also throw our weight behind the opposition which believes in political approach.”

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. The United Nations has reported that more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the violence.