Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Syrians to resist the rebel government emerging from the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad, saying the rebellion was orchestrated by the West.
In a speech on December 22, Khamenei said Syrians, especially the country’s youth, “must resolutely oppose those who conceived and implemented insecurity.”
On the night of December 8, Syrian pro-Turkish rebel fighters entered Damascus and announced the overthrow of the 24-year-old regime of Bashar al-Assad. Assad left Syria. Now he is in Moscow.
Since then, the “Hayat Tahir al-Sham” organization, recognized as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, quickly established a temporary government.
He and the transitional government insist they will protect the rights of all Syrians, but Khamenei believes the group will eventually gain “dominance” in Syria.
Assad’s ouster is widely seen as another blow to Tehran, whose regional allies, part of the so-called “axis of resistance,” have suffered major setbacks over the past 14 months.