CAIRO/DUBAI –
Syria’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani told Iran on Tuesday not to sow chaos in Syria but to respect the will of the Syrian people and the country’s sovereignty.
In a post on
He did not specify which comments he was referring to.
In a televised speech on Sunday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Syrian youth “to stand with firm determination against those who have orchestrated and provoked this insecurity.”
“We predict that a strong and honorable group will also emerge in Syria because today Syrian youth have nothing to lose. Their schools, universities, homes and streets are unsafe,” Khameini said.
He added: “Therefore, they must stand firm and resolute against the planners and executors of insecurity and prevail over them.”
Syrian rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad on December 8 after a 13-year civil war.
Iran spent billions of dollars propping up Assad during the war and deployed its Revolutionary Guards to Syria to keep its ally in power.
Assad’s overthrow is widely seen as a serious blow to the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” political and military alliance that opposes Israeli and American influence in the Middle East.
(Reporting by Menna Alaa, Jaidaa Taha and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Leslie Adler and Howard Goller)
