US, allies devising new scheme against Syria: Iranian official

A senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official has warned that the US and its allies are drawing up a new scheme against Syria as part of their attempts to undermine the anti-Israel resistance front.

Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Monday that the same ‘evil’ coalition, which suffered a fiasco in the 33-day war against Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and in 2008-2009 war against Gaza, will certainly experience failure in Syria once more.

He also said that foreign military intervention or the transfer of weapons to armed groups fighting the Syrian government would not solve the months-long crisis in Syria, stressing that Tehran fully supports the Syrian nation as well as the reforms pledged by President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

The Syrian government says ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists’ are behind the unrest while the opposition accuses the government of killing protesters.

Damascus also says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country and the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.