Publish Date: 22 February 2018 - 17:32

TEHRAN, Feb. 22 (MNA) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during an interview with the BBC said Iran’s presence in Syria is an attempt to combat terrorism, and not an effort to create a new front against Israel.

“We are in Syria fighting terrorist elements, and we have there by the invitation of the Syrian government to help them establish peace and, stability and territorial integrity of Syria,” Araghchi said.

Iran has taken a more active role in Syria. Tehran has reportedly sent military advisers, volunteer militias and hundreds of Quds Force fighters, as part of the overseas arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), to Syria.

 “I think Lebanon, Syria and other countries in the region have every right to establish a kind of resistance against these aggressions by Israelis.”

The recent events along the Israeli-Syrian border further highlight the sincerity of Iran’s attempts at ‘resistance.’

In Iran’s eyes, it is Israel that is the destabilizing force in the Middle East. “Fear of war is everywhere in our region unfortunately because of the interference by foreign powers and wrong policies and miscalculations of some players inside the region, and of course the hegemonic policies of the Israeli regime,” Araghchi said.

Iran has been successful in reducing tension in Syria, he said, adding, “we are in direct contact with Russia, Turkey and also Syrian government in order to spread peace and security in this war-torn country.”

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