Iran Warns Against Israel's Actions in Syria

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned Israel's attack on the Syrian territory, following the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, a key regional ally of Tehran.

Addressing a cabinet meeting on December 8, Pezeshkian “strongly condemned the actions of the Zionist regime in violating Syrian territory and urged all domestic parties in Syria and regional nations to remain vigilant against the regime's efforts to take advantage of the situation for its illegal ambitions in the region," the president’s official website reported on December 8.

He also stressed the need to ensure the safety of all Syrian citizens and residents, safeguard holy sites, and protect diplomatic and consular facilities in line with international law.

The Israeli Air Force reportedly conducted "very intensive" strikes in Syria earlier on December 8. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the same day that the country's military has temporarily seized control of the demilitarized UN-patrolled zone between Syrian and Israeli forces in the Golan region, adding that the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had "collapsed" with the rebel takeover of the country.

The Israeli premier added that the overthrow of the Syrian president by anti-government rebels was a result of Israeli strikes in recent months on Iran and the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Iran's Foreign Ministry issued a statement emphasizing that Syria's future must be determined by its people "without destructive interference or foreign imposition", and Iran will adopt "appropriate approaches and positions" based on its assessment of key actors' behaviors.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the former Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad had "never asked" for Tehran's aid against the rebels that overtook Damascus in a lightning offensive. He added that Iran had received intelligence suggesting that rebels in Syria’s Idlib Province were organizing an uprising in the north, and Tehran had relayed the report to Syria’s government and army, but still “nobody could believe” Mr. al-Assad’s collapse.

Earlier on December 7, Araghchi held a meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts under the Astana process - a format these countries have used to address the Syrian conflict in the past years - and called for talks between the Syrian government and the "legitimate combatant groups" to halt the violence.

The Assad government collapsed during the night of December 7-8, following the rapid seizure of various parts of Syria by different armed groups led by the Idlib-based militant Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

The HTS launched a wide-scale offensive called "Operation Repelling the Aggression" against government forces in Aleppo, with the aim of "liberating territory" on November 27, together with a coalition of rebel groups in northern Syria.

Now 59-year-old Assad is an asylum seeker in Moscow, and rebels are scouring embassies in Damascus for any sign of the supporters who ran his regime.

Iran and Syria had maintained strong military and security ties, which had deepened since the 2010s. In July 2020, Iran and Syria signed a comprehensive agreement to enhance military and defense cooperation. Iranian forces operating in Syria since the start of the civil war had frequently been targeted by Israeli strikes.

Tehran had also sought to integrate its proxies, mainly the Hezbollah movement, into the Syrian army, aiming to secure long-term influence in Syria’s military and security structures. However, Iran denied maintaining a military presence in Syria, referring to its troops as “military advisers.”

Headquarters for the Reconstruction of Holy Shrines (HRHS), the Iranian state-linked organization in charge of reconstructing Shia holy places in countries like Syria and Iraq, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), confirmed that all those involved in the "reconstruction" of the Shrine of Sayyida Zaynab in Damascus had returned to Iran the previous week. However, the US sanctioned the HRHS in Iraq in March 2020, describing it as an IRGC Quds Force-run body that served as an entity for laundering millions of dollars.