Senior Iranian commander: Assad would have been toppled without Iran's support

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad would have lost the battle if Iran did not support him, the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Forces Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said.

The Iranian news agency Fars reported Hajizadeh saying that Al-Assad had achieved victory over the opposition with support from different powers from outside the country. “He remained in power just because Iran wanted that,” he said.

Fars said that Hajizadeh delivered his remarks in a celebration held on Friday. “Eighty-six countries around the world wanted to change the Syrian regime and said that Al-Assad had to quit,” he said, “all of them failed because Iran wanted something different.”

He continued: “All the countries were defeated at the end of the battle.” He said that the US Secretary of State John Kerry recognised failure and the scene was formed according to “Hezbollah and Iran’s plans”.

These remarks came just days after remarks delivered by Deputy Secretary General of Hezbollah Na’em Qasem, who said: “The Syrian opposition and its supporters in the Arab and Western countries have to accept the nomination of Bashar Al-Assad to the presidency this year.”

Qasem pointed out that Al-Assad would win the elections even if the opposition had achieved some gains on the ground.