Leader’s Aide in Damascus:

Israel’s Crime Will Not Go Unanswered

Date: 10 April 2018 - 21:43

News ID: ۵۱۶۴۱

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- The top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday described a strike on a military air base in Syria as "Israel’s crime” and said it would "not remain without response”.
Ali Akbar Velayati was speaking on arrival in the Syrian capital Damascus after seven Iranian military personnel were martyred in the strike on the Tiyas, or T-4, air base near Homs, the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported.
"Definitely, this crime will not remain without a response," he said, adding Iran would also strongly defend Syria's territorial integrity and national sovereignty.
Syria, Iran and Russia have said the occupying regime of Israel was behind the attack - something Tel Aviv has neither confirmed nor denied.
However, the Zionist regime has carried out numerous strikes in Syria, last in February when Syrian anti-aircraft fire brought down an F-16 jet that was attacking the positions of government forces.
Iran’s military advisory help has been crucial for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war against terrorists groups since 2011, and Velayati also visited Syria in November.
Velayati, who is in Damascus to attend a conference on Palestine, said Iran would continue its support for the people and the government of Syria in the fight against their enemies, particularly Israel and its puppets in the Arab country.
He said the "very important" achievements made by the Syrian army and its allies in the campaign against militants in the Eastern Ghouta have angered the Arab nation’s enemies.
Such victories made the U.S. and the Zionist hatch an "evil plot" and falsely accuse the Syrian government of conducting a chemical attack near the Syrian capital, Velayati said.
He added that like the past seven years following the outbreak of a foreign-backed crisis in Syria, enemies would not be able to obtain their vicious goals in the Arab country and across the Middle East in the future either.
The occupying regime of Israel regards Iran and Hezbollah as the biggest threat to the presence of terrorists who are facing an imminent rout in the territories near Damascus.
On Monday, the UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura referenced the air base strike along with other recent events in Syria in a briefing to the Security Council, warning against a "situation of uncontrollable escalation”.
Syria also warned about the "dangerous repercussions” of Israeli assaults on its territories, stressing that the recent attack on Homs would not have been possible without massive U.S. support.