Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reiterated that Iran's presence on the ground in his country is "legitimate" as it was requested by the Damascus government, according to an interview published on Sunday by state media.
"The Russians were invited by the Syrian government, their existence in Syria is a legitimate existence, the same for the Iranians. While for the United States, the UK, it is illegal, it is an invasion, they are breaching the sovereignty of Syria—a sovereign country. So, their existence is not legal at all, it is an illegitimate existence," he said in an interview with British newspaper the Mail on Sunday, carried in full by Syrian state news agency SANA.
Iran says its personnel are in Syria to advise Assad's government and says it has no conventional armed forces in the war-torn Arab state.
Differences of Opinion
Assad said it is natural for there to be differences of opinion between allies and denied that other parties have been making decisions for him throughout the seven-year conflict.
"There is a war and because there's high dynamism now in the region, it's natural to have differences between the different parties, whether within our government or other governments; Russia-Syria, Syria-Iran, Iran-Russia, and within these governments, that's very natural," he said, according to SANA's transcript of his comments made in English.
But at the end, the decision about what is going on in Syria and what is going to happen rests with Syria, Assad said. "No one should have any doubt about this, regardless of the statements that you may hear."
Fight Against Terrorists
The president described the Syrian army as "the main party" that has been fighting the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, known as Daesh or ISIS, with the help of Tehran and Moscow.
"We are the main party who's been fighting ISIS with support by the Russians and Iranians during the past years. No other party is doing the same, even partially."
He said the involvement of foreign powers such as Britain, the United States and France is only prolonging the conflict and has slowed down a resolution to the situation in rebel-held areas of southwestern Syria.
"If you want to talk about the West and the western military alliance led by the Americans, actually it has been supporting ISIS, because they've been attacking the Syrian army whenever we attack or we've been attacked by ISIS," the president added.
In recent months Syrian government and allied forces have taken back the last besieged opposition area in Syria, north of Homs, and crushed the last rebel pockets near the capital.
Damascus has now set its sights on the opposition-held parts of southwestern Syria which border the occupied Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Advisory Help
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian parliament speaker's special advisor on international affairs, said on Sunday that Tehran will continue to provide "advisory" assistance to Syria as long as needed.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will remain in Syria as long as the Syrian government wants to use Iran's advisory help and will also conduct operations against the terrorists in any part of Syria at the request of the country's government should the need arise," he said at a ceremony in Tehran, ISNA reported.
The official added that the world should be "grateful" to Iran and its allies for their efforts in the fight against terrorism.
No Troops
The support provided by Iran has been critical to Assad's war effort.
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on June 2 that Iran's presence is legitimate and based on an invitation of the government, adding that it has no troops or fixed military bases in the country.
"There are no Iranian military forces in Syria. Israel made it up to help the United States to oppose Iran. There are Iranian advisers in Syria and some of them have died while working with the Syrian forces. Their presence is part of an agreement and in coordination with the Syrian forces. There are no fixed military bases of Iran [in Syria]," he was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters.
