The head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, has visited Syria to oversee a joint military drill, the Tasnim News Agency and other Iranian sources reported on September 21.
Qaani met senior Syrian officials in Damascus. According to Tasnim, they held discussions on ways to “confront the military and security challenges facing Syria” and supervised a joint Iran-Syria military exercise.
“Syria and Iran are brother states and they enjoy significant, all-out and deep strategic relations. The Islamic Republic of Iran will be by the side of the Syrian people and leadership in dealing with challenges.” The semi-official news agency quoted the commander as saying during his visit.
The commander also pointed to the United States as the primary source of chaos, terrorism, and conflict in Syria, the region, and the world.
Qaani was appointed as the commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of IRGC, after a U.S. drone strike on Baghdad killed its revered leader Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Iran has been a major ally of the Syrian government, providing it with economic, political, and military support since the outbreak of the war more than 12 years ago.
Last May, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi made a landmark visit to Syria, where he called on “resistance forces” to come together to confront Tehran’s arch-enemy Israel.
Hundreds of Israeli strikes have targeted forces affiliated with the Quds Force in Syria after the start of the war. Just a few hours before Qaani’s visit to Syria was announced two alleged members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike in southern Syria. Israeli tanks also shelled two positions of the Syrian military in the same region.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
the end to the british cancer of zionism in the mideast can now be counted in days