‘West seeks to break resistance chain by targeting Syria’

A top Iranian official says Israel and the West have concerted efforts to undermine the resistance movement in the Middle East by targeting Syria and financing the Syrian insurgents.

“A resistance chain comprising Iraq, Iran, Syria and Palestine has been formed against the hegemony of the Zionist regime [of Israel] and the US, and they seek to break this chain,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday.

“The Western countries are looking for a substitute at the heart of the Middle East and therefore they have targeted Syria,” Velayati added.

Describing Damascus as “the golden ring of the resistance chain,” the Iranian official said, “The Western countries do not intend to establish a liberal government or democracy in Syria, but they want to break the resistance chain.”

Velayati argued that the West and Israel have been funding the minority insurgent groups in Syria to help them to fight against the Syrian government.

The Leader’s advisor noted that safeguarding the chain of [anti-Israeli] resistance is of strategic importance to the Islamic Republic.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.