DUBAI, December 11. /TASS/. Iranian intelligence agencies had been warning the government of former Syrian President Bashar Assad about potential threats for three months, but these warnings were ignored, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during his address to the nation.
"Our intelligence warned the Syrian government several months before that (the fall of the Assad government — TASS)," Khamenei said, as quoted by the SNN TV channel. "I do not know whether these messages reached high-ranking officials or not. However, our intelligence officers reported that warnings were consistently transmitted throughout Shahrivar, Mehr, and Aban (three months of the Iranian calendar corresponding to the period from August 23 to November 21 — TASS)," he added.
The leader of the Islamic Republic emphasized that while Iranian forces and military advisers were present in Syria at the official request of Damascus, their primary mission was to combat the spread of terrorism, particularly by the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia). He clarified that they were not meant to replace the republic's regular army. "The main military operations were to be led by Syrian troops," Khamenei said.
On December 8, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Iranian and Syrian security services had identified an increase in opposition militias in the northern regions of the Arab republic. This information was brought to the authorities in Damascus and the army command.
Syria’s armed opposition forces launched a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates on November 27. By the evening of December 7, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s opponents seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs. On Sunday morning, they entered Damascus as government troops withdrew from the city. Following intra-Syrian talks, Assad stepped down and fled the country.