DUBAI, December 2. /TASS/. Iranian military advisors will remain in Syria and continue assisting Damascus in combating terrorism, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.
"We have been stationed there at the invitation of the Syrian government ever since the Syrian people first faced the terrorist threat. We recently bid farewell to a distinguished military commander, [Kioumars Pourhashemi, a senior Iranian military adviser to Syria,] who was killed [on November 28] in a terrorist attack in Aleppo. The presence of Iranian advisors is not something new, and, taking into account the Syrian government’s wishes, it will persist," the spokesman said during a press conference broadcast by the SNN TV channel.
According to him, Tehran is concerned by developments in the country and is engaged in dialogue with the participants of the Astana Syrian peace process, Russia and Turkey, who are the guarantors of the settlement process. "The Astana format was one of the most effective mechanisms for resolving the Syrian crisis. <...> We remain committed to this format," the diplomat emphasized.
On November 28, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (elite military units) reported the death of Brigadier General Kioumars Pourhashemi during a terrorist attack in northern Syria.
On the morning of November 27, the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group (banned in Russia) carried out a large-scale attack in northern Syria. According to a statement by the Syrian Armed Forces’ Command, the terrorists attempted to attack villages and towns under the protection of the Syrian army and military facilities, continuing to target the positions of government forces. The Syrian army launched an operation to repel the raid. On November 30, the country’s armed forces’ command stated that the army was conducting strikes on the positions of terrorists who had managed to infiltrate many neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo. According to the Syrian Defense Ministry’s statement, the army was forced to reorganize its forces to protect the lives of civilians and troops and prepare for a counterattack.