Iran ready to train Syrian army: Iran cmdr.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Pourdastan added that the Syrian army has gained experience during years of conflict with the occupying regime of Israel, and has the ability to defend itself with no need for foreign assistance.
“As a Muslim and friendly country, we stand by Syria and if there is need for training, we will provide them with necessary training,” the senior Iranian commander asserted.
He, however, emphasized that Iran would not have “active involvement in their operations.”
Pourdastan’s remarks came as the Syrian state television reported on Sunday that Israel has carried out an airstrike against the Jamraya Research Center, located northwest of the capital, Damascus. The center had been targeted by another Israeli airstrike back in January.
‘Israel’s aggression opens door to all possibilities’ – Syrian Information Minister
Published time: May 05, 2013 13:59
Edited time: May 05, 2013 18:04
Syria’s information minister says that those who infringe on Syria’s sovereignty must “study their choices carefully.” He said that Israel has “proved its link to terrorist groups.” Israel has reportedly launched two airstrikes against Syria in two days.
Omran al-Zoabi added that it is Damascus’ duty to “protect the state from any domestic or foreign attack through all available means.“
The minister’s comments came after an emergency cabinet meeting organized to respond to what a Western source called a new strike on Iranian missiles bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Reuters reported.
The Arab League has condemned the alleged strike on Syria and urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to “act immediately to end Israeli attacks on Syria,” calling the alleged strikes a “dangerous violation of an Arab state’s sovereignty.”
This follows reports of condemnation from Egyptian, Lebanese and Iranian leaders.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN and the UN Security Council protesting “Israeli aggression” that killed and wounded several people and “caused widespread destruction.” It also said the attacks aimed “to give direct military support to terrorist groups” fighting the government. It called the strikes a “flagrant violation of international law” that have made the Middle East “more dangerous.”
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said the attack proved that there is an alliance between Israel and Islamists trying to topple the Syrian government. In an interview with CNN he said the airstrikes are a “declaration of war” by Israel and that Syria would retaliate in its own time and way.
Egypt has also condemned the attack, saying it complicated a crisis that Cairo was trying to help resolve. The Egyptian government said in a statement that the strike was a violation of international law and a threat to the regional security.
The Obama administration is fully supportive of Israeli airstrikes on Syria, US officials and diplomatic sources told NBC News.
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Iran calls for stand against Israel after Syria attack
DUBAI |
(Reuters) – Iran called on the region to unite against Israel after a reported attack on Syria and said it was ready to train the Damascus government’s army.
Israel carried out its second air strike in days on Syria early on Sunday, targeting Iranian-supplied missiles headed for Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a Western intelligence source said.
Tehran on Sunday denied the attack was aimed at “its missiles destined for Hezbollah resistance fighters in Lebanon,” according to the Islamic state’s English-language Press TV.
Iran has supported its ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his efforts to suppress a rebellion that has raged for more than two years and which Tehran and Damascus say is being waged by Western-backed “terrorists”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast urged countries in the region to stand against the “assault”, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
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US prodding Israel to attack Syria: Analyst
An Israeli attack on Syria will be definitely a geopolitical blunder not because such a strike will be regionally viral but because it will, to the disappointment of the Zionists, gain sympathy for Syria and condemnation for Israel.”
Dr. Ismail Salami, political analyst
“Although Washington seems to have decided to monitor from afar the developments in Syria without any military intervention by avoiding a Libya-style scenario, they are resorting by any means to expedite the collapse of [the Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime,” Dr. Ismail Salami wrote in an article on Press TV website.
The Iranian author said Washington, which has long “run out of novel ideas and well-wrought out plans” to further its objectives in the Middle East, has now clung to the “farcically banal excuse” of the Syrian regime’s alleged stockpile of chemical weapons.
“This has furnished the Pentagon officials with ample reasons to avail themselves of the generous contributions the Zionist regime can dole out to this end.”
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor and several Western media outlets have recently claimed that Damascus possesses and intends to use chemical weapons against its own people.
On July 18, the New York Times reported that US officials have recently been in talks with Israelis ”about whether Israel might move to destroy Syrian weapons facilities”.
Syria, however, has dismissed allegations that it intends to use chemical weapons to end months of unrest, stressing that it will never use weapons of mass destruction against its own people.
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