Iran Advisors to Leave If Syria Demands It: Envoy

Date: 30 January 2018 - 21:41

News ID: ۴۹۵۳۱

SOCHI (Dispatches) -- Iranian military advisors are present in Syria at the invitation of the country’s government and will be withdrawn at Damascus’ request, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hussein Jaberi Ansari told reporters here on Tuesday.
"When all the tasks are achieved, Iranian forces will leave the country with the consent of the Syrian authorities," he said.
"They are there at the Syrian government’s request to resolve issues that the Syrian people have been facing," he added.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of a peace conference for Syria here.
Russia's foreign minister opened the conference by saying that time is ripe to end the "painful" conflict the war-torn Arab country. Key Syrian opposition and rebel groups, however, boycotted the gathering which Moscow described as an effort to speed up political settlement for Syria.
Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said it invited 1,600 representatives to the Syrian Congress of National Dialogue.
"We can confidently say that all the suitable circumstances to end the painful page in the history of the Syrian people are present," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "There is a dire need for a comprehensive Syrian dialogue for the sake of a comprehensive deal for the Syrian crisis."
Syrian government official Ghassan al-Qalaa told the gathering: "I call you upon in the name of millions of Syrian to have mercy upon our country."
Jaberi Ansari said Russia, Iran and Turkey acting as the Syrian ceasefire guarantor nations do have disagreements but are ready to work to help resolve the Syrian crisis.
"Of course, there are disagreements, including political ones, between the three countries. However, all parties are ready to show political will to provide all-round support to the Syrian people," he stressed.
According to the diplomat, the Syrian National Dialogue Congress underway in Sochi is a good start for a transition to civilian life in the country.
"We are moving in the right direction, we are interacting with our foreign partners," Jaberi Ansari said. "Our task is to break the impasse of the Syrian crisis."
He added that the Sochi forum is not an alternative to meetings in the Astana format and the UN-brokered intra-Syrian negotiations in Geneva.
One of the objectives of the congress was setting up a commission to hammer out Syria’s new Constitution.