MADRID 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
This Thursday, Iran accused the United States of being responsible for the large-scale offensive launched by various Syrian rebel groups, including the terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), against the Syrian Army in the province of Aleppo (north).
The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, has assured that the offensive is part of a plan led by the United States “to destabilize” the region and has urged neighboring countries to collaborate to “thwart this dangerous conspiracy.”
Likewise, he recalled that “the attack by terrorist groups in these areas” is a “serious violation of the agreements of the Astana process” and has assured that this “puts at serious risk the positive achievements” achieved since then, as stated by the state news agency IRNA.
Likewise, he has called on the international community to “prevent and fight” terrorism, while warning that any rejection in the fight against terrorist groups in Syria could put at risk what has been achieved “in recent years.” , putting the region on the brink of a “new era” of “insecurity and instability.”
The rebels’ offensive would have allowed these groups to approach a distance of about five kilometers from Aleppo and even take an important military base used by the 46th Regiment of the Syrian Army, after breaking through the ‘line of contact’ established in the March 2020 ceasefire.
In addition, it comes in the face of the recent increase in bombing by Syria and Russia against rebel-controlled areas in the southern Idlib area and in the face of the increased deployment of military personnel by Damascus near the front lines, in anticipation to a possible ground offensive in the area.
The assault is the first on a large scale since the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, respectively, announced the aforementioned ceasefire after months of fighting. Moscow is one of the Syrian president’s main international supporters and its military intervention in 2015 allowed government forces to repel rebel advances and stabilize the fronts.