Iran has established direct communication with Syria’s new anti-regime alliance following Bashar Assad’s ouster, aiming to avert hostilities between the 2 nations, a senior Iranian official stated Monday.
The lightning advance of the alliance spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), marked one of many largest turning factors for the Middle East in generations.
Assad’s fall as president eliminated a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised affect throughout the Arab world.
Hours after Assad’s fall, Iran stated it anticipated relations with Damascus to proceed primarily based on the 2 international locations’ “far-sighted and wise approach” and known as for the institution of an inclusive authorities representing all segments of Syrian society.
There is little doubt about Tehran’s concern about how the change of energy in Damascus will have an effect on Iran’s affect in Syria, the lynchpin of its regional clout.
But there isn’t any panic, three Iranian officers informed Reuters as Tehran seeks diplomatic avenues to ascertain contact with folks whom one of many officers known as “those within Syria’s new ruling groups whose views are closer to Iran’s.”
“The main concern for Iran is whether Assad’s successor will push Syria away from Tehran’s orbit,” a second Iranian official stated. “That is a scenario Iran is keen to avoid.”
A hostile post-Assad Syria would deprive Lebanese armed group Hezbollah of its solely land provide route and deny Iran its essential entry to the Mediterranean and the “front line” with Israel.
One of the senior officers stated Iran’s clerical rulers, going through the lack of an necessary ally in Damascus and the return of Donald Trump to the white House in January, have been open to participating with Syria’s new leaders.
“This engagement is key to stabilizing ties and avoiding further regional tensions,” the official stated.
Tehran has established contacts with two teams inside the brand new management and the extent of interplay can be assessed within the coming days after a gathering at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, a high safety physique, he stated.
Two of the Iranian officers stated Tehran was cautious of Trump utilizing Assad’s elimination as leverage to accentuate financial and political stress on Iran, “either to force concessions or to destabilize the Islamic Republic.”
The fall of Assad uncovered Tehran’s dwindling strategic leverage within the area, exacerbated by Israel’s navy offensives in opposition to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Gaza.
Iran’s clerical rulers spent billions of {dollars} propping up Assad through the civil warfare that erupted in Syria in 2011 and deployed its Revolutionary Guards to Syria to maintain its ally in energy and keep Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” to Israel and U.S. affect within the Middle East.
Assad’s fall removes a important hyperlink in Iran’s regional resistance chain that served as a vital transit route for Tehran to provide arms and fund its proxies and notably Hezbollah.
Source: www.dailysabah.com