Iran has warned against the resurgence of Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria, calling for decisive and coordinated efforts to prevent the spread of terrorism across the West Asian region.
Strongly condemning all forms of terrorism, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday Tehran considers the reactivation of terrorist groups in Syria part of an evil plan by Israel and the US to destabilize West Asia.
Baghaei stressed the need for vigilance and coordination among regional countries, especially Syria’s neighbors, to thwart this dangerous plot.
The Iranian diplomat also referred to the international community’s responsibility to prevent and fight against the ominous phenomenon of terrorism.
Baghaei warned that any delay in confronting terrorists in Syria would plunge the region into a new round of insecurity and instability.
He voiced Iran’s continued support for the Syrian government and people in their fight against terrorist groups to restore security and stability to the country.
Israel has been the principal supporter of terrorist groups that oppose the democratically-elected government of President Bashar al-Assad since the foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria.
Tel Aviv has significantly ramped up its strikes since last October, when it began a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, in what has been described by observers as a reckless bid threatening to fuel tensions throughout the region further.
The Israeli regime has carried out hundreds of attacks against Syria since 2011, when the Arab nation found itself in the grip of rampant foreign-backed militancy and terrorism.
On Wednesday, members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist outfit and their allied armed factions reportedly attacked at least 10 areas under the control of the Syrian military in the west of Aleppo city and the eastern countryside of Idlib.
More than 130 people including soldiers as well as militants from both sides were said to be killed as a result of the heavy clashes.
Civilians, including children, had been killed and injured in the clashes, which saw Syrian army forces fire “hundreds of shells and missiles on civil and military positions” during the fighting.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitor, said, on Thursday that 65 HTS members were killed along with 18 from allied militant groups and 49 members of government forces.
The Syrian army, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA on Thursday, said “a huge and large-scale terrorist attack, with large numbers of terrorists and using medium and heavy weapons”, had targeted villages, towns and military sites.
Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network cited a Syrian source in Idlib as saying that HTS had directed all hospitals in the city and the northern countryside to stop surgeries and prepare to treat only the militants injured in the battles.
