IRGC forces were last who left Syria: chief commander

Speaking to a gathering of IRGC commander on Thursday, General Salami hailed the former Syrian President Bashar Assad for its foreign policy and siding with the Resistance Front.

“Syria had the brightest and most salient record among Arab countries in confronting Zionism, and it was the only country that did not accept any of the compromise plans and was always in a state of confrontation, offensive, defensive, and resistance towards America and the Israeli regime.”

He added that the Takfiri terrorists have been the means of deterrence at the hands of Western countries versus the “soft influence” of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region, highlighting that Iran’s fight against Takfiri terrorists served the entire world.

“After destroying ISIL’s control, we had to withdraw our non-necessary forces from Syria,” he continued.

He further explained that after the Syrian army could lay its control the situation and could hold the frontlines, Iran’s military advisors were reduced.

“Over the past 13-year period, we have tried to make Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian movement largely independent…” the IRGC commander continued.

Salami went to talk about the last days of Assad government, criticizing the Syrian army for not fighting to defend their country. “We couldn’t engage the entire IRGC and Basij in a place where its army was just bystander.”

The IRGC commander further said that Iranian intelligence had warned the Syrian government about the increasing activities of the armed terrorist groups.

“Even our brothers (IRGC intel forces) were able to find the axes of their attack using intelligence techniques and conveyed the intellects to the political and military level in Syria, but because the will to change, war, and resistance in its true sense did not exist, unfortunately, we say what happened.”