Iran’s top ranking general in Syria has contradicted the official line taken by Iran’s leaders on the sudden downfall of their ally Bashar al-Assad, saying in a remarkably candid speech last week that Iran had suffered a major defeat but would still try to operate in the country.
An audio recording of the speech, given last week by Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati at a mosque in Tehran, surfaced publicly on Jan 6 in Iranian media, and was a stark contrast to the remarks of Iran’s president, foreign minister and other top leaders. They have for weeks downplayed the magnitude of Iran’s strategic loss in Syria last month, when rebels swept Assad out of power, and said Iran would respect any political outcome decided by Syria’s people.
“I don’t consider losing Syria something to be proud of,” Mr Esbati said, according to the audio recording of his speech, which Abdi Media, a Geneva-based news site focused on Iran, published on Jan 6. “We were defeated, and defeated very badly, we took a very big blow and it’s been very difficult.”
Mr Esbati revealed that Iran’s relations with Assad had been strained for months leading to his ouster, saying the Syrian leader had denied multiple requests for Iranian-backed militias to open a front against Israel from Syria in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack of Oct 7, 2023.
For more than a decade, Iran backed Assad by sending commanders and troops to help it fight against opposition rebels and the Islamic State terrorist group.
Under Assad, Syria was Iran’s regional command center from which it supplied weapons and money to its network of regional militias. Iran also controlled airports, warehouses and operated missile and drone manufacturing bases in Syria.
The rebel coalition has now taken over much of Syria and is trying to form a government. Mr Esbati said in his speech that Iran would look for ways to recruit insurgents in whatever shape the new Syria takes.
Mr Esbati said the fall of the Assad regime was inevitable given the rampant corruption, political oppression and economic hardship that people faced. He said Assad had ignored warnings to reform. Mr Mehdi Rahmati, a prominent analyst in Tehran and expert on Syria, said the comparison to Iran’s current situation was hard to miss. NY TIMES
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