Iran’s supreme leader accuses US, Israel of plotting Syrian military overthrow

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that a military coup, organised with the involvement of the US, Israel and through the support of a neighbouring country, occurred in Syria.

Khamenei made these remarks during a public address to the nation, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

“There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria is the product of a joint American and Zionist plan. Yes, a neighboring government of Syria plays, has played, and is playing an obvious role in this regard - everyone sees this - but the main conspirator, mastermind, and command centre are in America and the Zionist regime. We have evidence. This evidence leaves no room for doubt,” Khamenei said.

The supreme leader also accused Assad's government of ignoring Iranian intelligence warnings, saying that for three months, Iran's intelligence services informed the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about potential dangers, but their warnings were ignored.

“Our intelligence had transmitted warning messages to the Syrian authorities several months before (referring to the fall of the Assad government). I don't know whether they definitely reached high-ranking officials or not. But our intelligence officers said that messages were constantly transmitted in shahrivar, mehr, aban [three months of the Iranian calendar, the period corresponds to August 23-November 21],” Khamenei said.

On November 27, armed opposition groups launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian army positions in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces. By the evening of December 7, they had captured several major cities (Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, and Homs), and on December 8, they entered Damascus, with Syrian government forces withdrawing from the city. Syrian government leader Muhammad Ghazi al-Jalali expressed readiness for a peaceful transfer of power in the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Bashar al-Assad stepped down as president of Syria and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful handover of power.

The decision to grant political asylum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family was made personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, confirmed this in a statement to journalists.

"Such decisions cannot be made without the president. This is his decision," Peskov stated.

However, Peskov declined to comment on Assad's current whereabouts.

When asked by journalists about the location of Bashar al-Assad, who has been granted asylum in Moscow, the Kremlin spokesperson responded, "I have nothing to say about Mr. Assad's whereabouts at this time."

By Naila Huseynova