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US, Israel seek to turn Syria into second Libya — Iranian official

According to Ali Akbar Velayati, Tehran hoped that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, "who has extensive intelligence and foreign policy experience," will be able to correct earlier mistakes

DUBAI, December 3. /TASS/. The US and Israel would like Syria to suffer the fate of Libya, Ali Akbar Velayati, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s adviser on foreign affairs, said.

"After the rapid developments in Tunisia and Egypt (the ‘Arab Spring’ - TASS), the US and its NATO allies took action to prevent Islamic awakening in other countries. Their efforts were focused on two goals: first, to overthrow the Libyan government, and then, oust [Syrian President] Bashar Assad," he said in an interview with the Tasnim news agency. "We remember the time when US and British aircraft took off from the Incirlik and Izmir bases [in Turkey] to bomb Libya," Velayati added.

According to the advisor, now, Syria’s turn has come. "We have never thought that Turkey, which has a long history of Islam, will fall into a trap laid by the US and the Zionists," the Iranian politician noted.

According to him, Tehran hoped that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, "who has extensive intelligence and foreign policy experience," will be able to correct earlier mistakes. "Prior to those events, Turkey and Syria were very close, with Damascus and Gaziantep taking turns in hosting meetings of the two countries’ government delegations," Velayati said.

On the morning of November 27, units of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) carried out a large-scale attack in northern Syria. According to the Syrian military command, the terrorists tried to attack villages and towns defended by government forces, as well as military facilities and the Syrian army’s positions. Syrian troops launched an operation to repel the attack. On November 30, the army command said that strikes had been carried out on the positions of militants penetrating many neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo. The Syrian Defense Ministry stated that the army had to regroup in order to protect the lives of civilians and military personnel and prepare for a counterattack.

The term Arab Spring is used to describe the large-scale protests that took place in a number of Middle Eastern and northern African countries starting in the 2010s. In some cases, those developments resulted in major political changes, while in Libya, Yemen and Syria, they led to prolonged civil wars.

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