The withdrawals of one of President Bashar al-Assad's main supporters come in the context of a new rebel offensive.
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Iran begins evacuating officers, soldiers from Syria
The withdrawals of one of President Bashar al-Assad's main supporters come amid a new rebel offensive.
A truck-mounted missile fires. An anti-government fighter covers his ears as a multi-barrel missile is fired at government forces on the northern outskirts of the city of Hama in central-western Syria on Wednesday.
Iran began evacuating its commanders and military personnel from Syria on Friday, according to regional officials and three Iranian officials, a sign of Iran's inability to help keep President Bashar al-Assad in power as he faces a rebel offensive.
Among those evacuated to neighboring Iraq and Lebanon were senior commanders of Iran's powerful Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the officials said. The move marks a significant turning point for Mr. al-Assad, whose government has been supported by Iran during Syria's 13-year civil war, and for Iran, which has used Syria as a conduit for supplying weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Guard personnel, some Iranian diplomats, their families and Iranian civilians have also been evacuated, according to Iranian officials, including two Guard members and regional officials. The Iranians began leaving Syria on Friday morning, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
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The evacuations have been ordered at the Iranian embassy in Damascus and at Revolutionary Guard bases, Iranian and regional officials said. At least some embassy staff have left. Some are heading to Tehran, while others are going overland to Lebanon, Iraq and the Syrian port of Latakia, officials said.
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"Iran has started evacuating its military forces and personnel because we cannot fight as an advisory and support force if the Syrian army itself does not want to fight," said Mehdi Rahmati, a prominent Iranian analyst who advises officials on regional strategy. in a telephone interview. "Ultimately," he added, "Iran has realized that it cannot handle the situation in Syria at the moment with any military operation and that this option is no longer an option."
Three men in suits stand at the podium. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein and Syrian Foreign Minister and emigre Bassam al-Sabbagh at a news conference in Baghdad on Friday. Credit... Ahmed Jalil/EPA, via Shutterstock
Along with Russia, Iran has been the Syrian government's strongest backer, sending advisers and commanders to bases and the front lines and supporting militias.
It has also deployed tens of thousands of volunteer fighters, including Iranians, Afghans and Pakistani Shiites, to protect the government and retake territory from the Islamic State terrorist group at the height of Syria's civil war. Some Iranian forces, Like the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade, they have been in Syria at military bases operated by Iran; on Friday, they were also transferred to Damascus and Latakia, a stronghold of the Assad regime, Iranian officials said. A video posted on accounts linked to the Guardian shows Fatemiyoun in uniform taking refuge in the Seyed Zainab shrine near Damascus. The surprise offensive of a rebel coalition fundamentally changed the landscape of the civil war that Mr. al-Assad had fought until the end, and Iran's control over a swath of Syrian territory. In just over a week, the rebels have overrun major cities such as Aleppo and Hama, captured swaths of territory in four provinces and advanced on the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Iranian officials said two high-ranking generals in Iran's Quds Force, set to advise the Syrian army, fled to Iraq after various rebel groups seized control of Homs and Deir al-Zour on Friday.
"Syria is on the verge of collapse and we are observing the situation calmly," Ahmad Naderi, a member of the Iranian Parliament, said in a social media post on Friday. He added that if Damascus falls, Iran will also lose its influence in Iraq and Lebanon, saying: "I do not understand the reason for this inaction, but whatever it is, it is not good for our country."
The rebel offensive comes at a time of relative weakness for three of Syria's most important supporters. Iran's ability to provide aid has been limited by its conflict with Israel; the Russian military has been weakened by its invasion of Ukraine; and Hezbollah, which had previously provided fighters to help the Assad government in its fight against the Islamic State, has been hit hard by its war against Israel.
More territory falling into the hands of rebel forces, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, could also threaten Iran's ability to provide weapons and advisers to Mr. al-Assad's regime or Hezbollah.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Damascus this week, met with Mr. al-Assad and pledged Iran's full support.
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But in Baghdad on Friday, he appeared to make a more ambiguous statement. "We are not inventors," he said in an interview on Iraqi television. "What God wants will happen, but resistance will do its job."
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