A senior Iranian general acknowledged, in a recorded speech, a “heavy defeat” for Iran after the fall of the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to what the American newspaper “The New York Times” reported.
The newspaper said, “General Behrouz’s evidentiary speech in a mosque in Tehran, which was published by the Geneva-based Abdi Media news website last Monday, contradicted the statements of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior leaders.”
On December 31, Ibrahidi gave a speech entitled “Answering Questions About the Collapse of Syria” at a mosque in central Tehran, in which he addressed army officers and mosque-goers.
The speech began with an evidentiary announcement that he “left Syria on board the last military plane for Tehran the night before the fall of the Assad regime,” and ended with his answer to the audience’s questions, during which he presented his “most serious assessment of Iran’s military ability to fight Israel and the United States.”
According to the New York Times, Tabari held a position in the Iranian Armed Forces, with a record of prominent roles, including serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces’ Cyber Division.
In Syria, Ebdari supervised Iranian military operations and coordinated closely with Syrian ministers, defense officials and with Russian generals, superior to the Commander-in-Chief of the Quds Force, General Ismail Qaani, who oversees the Iranian-backed regional militia network.
Ibrahidi said in the recorded speech: “I do not consider Syria’s loss to be something to be proud of. We were defeated, we were defeated severely, and we received a very strong blow and it was very difficult.”
My proof revealed that Iran’s relations with Assad were tense for several months, which led to his ouster, saying that “the Syrian president rejected multiple requests by Iranian-backed militias to open a front against Israel from Syria, following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.”
“Iran presented Assad with comprehensive military plans on how it would use Iranian military resources in Syria to attack Israel,” Ebrahidi said.
My proof considered that “the fall of the Assad regime was inevitable in light of the rampant corruption, political repression, and economic difficulties that the country is suffering from,” and he said that Assad “ignored warnings about reform,” while he accused Russia, which is a major ally of Tehran, of “misleading Iran by telling it that the planes The Russians were bombing armed factions, while in reality they were dropping bombs on open fields.”
He said in this regard: “Last year, when Israel struck Iranian targets in Syria, Russia shut down the radars, which actually facilitated these attacks.”
Ibrahidi continued his speech, saying that Iran “will look for ways to recruit its men in whatever form the new Syria may take,” adding: “We can activate all the networks that we have worked with over the years, and we can activate the social classes that our men have lived among for years; “We can be active in social media and we can form resistance cells.”
He added: “Now we can work there as we do in other international arenas, and we have already begun.”
Despite his assurances about activating networks, it is still unclear what Iran can realistically do in Syria, given the popular and political opposition it faces and the challenges it faces in reaching Syria by land and air.
When asked whether Iran would retaliate for Israel’s assassination of the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, he replied that Iran had “already done that,” referring to the missile barrage it launched last fall.
Regarding whether Iran is planning to carry out a third round of direct strikes on Israel, Ibrahidi said, “The situation now does not tolerate dealing with another attack on Israel.”
When asked why Iran did not fire missiles at American military bases in the region, he said that this would invite the United States to launch greater retaliatory attacks on Iran and its allies, adding that “ordinary Iranian missiles, not advanced ones, cannot penetrate advanced American defense systems.” .
Despite these assessments, Ibrahidi said that he “wants to reassure everyone that Iran and its allies still have the upper hand on the ground in the region.”
While Iran has experience operating in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003, including sowing unrest, the geography and political landscape in Syria are different, which poses more challenges, according to the New York Times.
In this context, Mehdi Rahmati, a prominent analyst in Tehran and an expert on Syrian affairs, said in a phone interview with the New York Times that a probate letter “showed that some senior officials were detached from government propaganda and speaking frankly with the public.”
He added: “Everyone talks about the speech in meetings and wonders why he said these things, especially in a public forum. He explained very clearly what happened to Iran and where it stands now. “In a way it could serve as a warning for domestic politics.”
In turn, an Iranian member of the Revolutionary Guard who spent years in Iraq as a military strategist alongside senior commanders, whose name the newspaper did not mention, said that Ibrahidi’s statements regarding Iran’s recruitment of cells in Syria “may be more ambitious than practical at this stage.”
He added: “While Ebdari acknowledged his serious defeat, he also sought to boost morale and calm conservatives who are calling on Iran to act more forcefully.”
For his part, an official in the Revolutionary Guards, who requested to remain anonymous, said that Iran’s policy in this regard has not been decided yet, adding: “Iran will benefit if Syria slides into chaos, because Tehran knows how to prosper and secure its interests in a turbulent environment.”
It is noteworthy that the Iranian guide, Ali Khamenei, said in two speeches since the fall of Assad that “resistance did not die in Syria,” and added that “the youth of Syria will reclaim their country from the ruling rebels, whom he described as agents of Israel and the United States,” according to his description.
President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were more inclined to reconciliation, saying that they “prefer stability in Syria and diplomatic relations with the new government.”
Last updated: January 10, 2025 – 11:01
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