Velayati: Iran, Hezbollah are on Syria side

Ali Akbar Velayati, the secretary general of World Assembly of Islamic Awakening (WAIA), says the U.S. and certain Arab countries have launched an intensive campaign to topple the Damascus government but they are “ignorant” of the fact that Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah are on the side of the Syrian government.
Speaking in a gathering of IRGC cultural elites in Tehran on Thursday, Velayati said the great powers of Russia and China have also joined the supporters of Syria since they have realized that the “world’s situation is changing”.

“The Islamic Republic will stand against all those who are making efforts against Syria and support the Syrian government,” asserted Velayati, a senior foreign policy advisor to The Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppresed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei.

However, Velayati said there are faults with the Syrian ruling system and the Damascus officials acknowledge these problems and have started doing reforms.

He went on to say that the “known elements of the Zionists” in the region and those Arab governments which have not experienced democracy in their political life in the course of history are suggesting that Syria should be democratized.

Support for the Syrian armed insurgents is intended to “derail” the Islamic Awakening movement in the region, Velayati pointed out.

But, he said, Muslims will not ally themselves with the “enemies of Islam” to topple the Syrian government which is considered “the war front against the Zionist regime.”

Velayati, a former foreign minister, said those Arab rulers that “begged the Americans” to keep Hosni Mubarak in power, gave sanctuary to the Tunisian dictator, and supported the killing of the Yemeni people are now portraying themselves as the defenders of the Syrian people.

He said Syria is the only government which has withstood Israel since the 1967 war and it is the only country which has not accepted the Camp David agreement.

“It is for these reasons that they have targeted the most sensitive center of the resistance (movement) ignorant of the fact that Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah are standing on the side of Syria strongly and we are witnessing that Russia and China have also come to this side and its reason is that they have understood that the situation of the world in changing.”