TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad offered condolences to the Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani over the assassination of General Soleimani by US terrorist forces on Friday.

In two separate cables on Friday, President Assad said that this criminal act committed by the US administration reaffirms its approach of supporting terrorism, destabilizing the region and spreading chaos and law of the jungle in the service of Zionist projects and colonialism in the region and the world as a whole.

“We received, with utmost sorrow, the news of the martyrdom of a constellation of resistance leaders, headed by Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of al-Quds Failaq, who spent his life in the national work and serving his country and the axis of resistance and the right issues of peoples and in combating terrorism and its backers,” he wrote in the message to Ayatollah Khamenei, SANA reported.

President al-Assad affirmed that the martyr Soleimani will remain immortal in the consciences of the Syrian people who will not forget his standing by the Syrian Arab Army in its defense of Syria against terrorism and its backers.

“We are confident that this crime will increase the determination of the axis of the resistance to continue confronting the US subversive policy in the region and all forces of injustice and aggression in the world.

He stressed that the approach of the martyr Soleimani and his companions will increase the determination of the resistant youth to continue this path and build on it to strengthen and immunize the resistance in the face of the enemies of our region.

President al-Assad, on the behalf of the people of the Syrian Arab Republic and on his own behalf, extended heartfelt condolences to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the friendly people of Iran.

In the cable to Rouhani, President al-Assad said that “we are deeply saddened by the news of the martyrdom of a constellation of resistance leaders on top of them Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the Leader of al-Quds Failaq, due to a US coward aggression.

“The martyrdom of those leaders, who have spent their lives in the service of the cause of resistance and the defense of truth and honor, will be a beacon that illuminates the path of whoever walked with them in this approach, and will enhance in the hearts of future generations of honorable resistants, wherever they are, the determination to do everything necessary to put an end to the aggressive policies that violate peoples’ rights and state sovereignty, which the United States has consistently pursued in our region,” the cable included.

President al-Assad underlined that the blood of the martyrs will increase strength of the resistance axis and its determination to liberate our region from occupation and settlement.

He expressed full solidarity with the friendly people of Iran and offered sincere condolences to the families of the martyrs.

The United States terrorist forces assassinated General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi — in an attack at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday. The Pentagon said in a statement that US President Donald Trump had ordered the attack.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said a harsh response "in due time and right place" awaits criminals behind Soleimani's assassination.

MNA/SANA