Continued Advisory Support Pledged to Syria

A senior parliamentarian said Iran will continue its advisory support for the Syrian government and military in the Arab country's fight against foreign-backed militants.

"We reserve our right to support the Syrian government and people against terrorists," Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Monday, Press TV reported.

"Based on this right, we will stand by the Syrian people and government in their fight against Daesh [an Arabic acronym for the self-styled Islamic State] and other terror groups," said the lawmaker who is the head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.  

"Iran is determined to confront terrorism. It makes no distinction among terrorist groups and does not subdivide them into good and bad ones, as some countries do." Boroujerdi's remarks coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warning against "Iranian involvement" in Syria following a US-Russia ceasefire brokered in several southwestern provinces, which took effect on Sunday.

"Israel would welcome a genuine ceasefire in Syria, but this ceasefire must not open the way for Iran's military entrenchment or that of its satellites in Syria in general and in southern Syria in particular," the Israeli premier claimed on Sunday. Israeli warplanes have repeatedly bombed Syrian Army positions, especially in areas near the occupied Golan Heights where Tel Aviv claims the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah is carving out land for a long-term stay.

  Message to Israel  

On June 18, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps fired several ballistic missiles from its bases in western Iran and destroyed IS positions in Syria's Deir al-Zor, which left scores of terrorists dead.

The strike came in response to an IS-claimed terrorist attack in Tehran, which killed 18 people but many analysts said it also served as a message to Israel.

Boroujerdi said the missile strike showed the length to which Iran's armed forces are ready to go in their response to terrorist movements.

He said "some regional parties, which have Syrian and Yemeni blood on their hands, back terrorists," calling on all players in the region to clarify their stance on terrorism and end backstage patronage of terrorists.

Boroujerdi was apparently referring to Saudi Arabia, which has been waging a deadly bombing campaign against Yemen since 2015 and is widely accused of backing terrorists.