Damascus: Senior Iranian official, Ala Al Deen Boroujerdi, head of Iran’s national security and foreign policy committee, speaking in Damascus, reiterated his country’s support for the Syrian government.
Iran has been a vital ally for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad during the four-year Syrian war, providing crucial military and economic support.
Syria is a focal point in a wider regional struggle between Tehran and Riyadh and which is also playing out in Yemen.
“We are here to announced anew that our support for Syria - government and nation - is solid and continuous, and we are proud of this support,” Boroujerdi said, according to a report on the Syrian state news agency SANA.
The Iranian official slammed Saudi Arabia’s air strike campaign in Yemen, using particularly vicious language and threatened Riyadh with ‘heavenly revenge’.
An alliance of Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing Al Houthi militants and allied army units that control much of Yemen since March 26 in what they say is an attempt to restore exiled President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The United Nations says 828 civilians, including 182 children, have been killed across Yemen in the conflict.
Saudi Arabia and its allies believe Al Houthis are a proxy for the influence of Iran and are wary of current Western leaders rappraochment with Iran amid their regional interference.
US President Barack Obama said on Wedneday in an interview with Al Sharq Al Awsat that Gulf states were ‘right to be wary of Iran’ and US Secretary of State John Kerry previously said the US knows that Iran has been providing weapons to Al Houthi militiamen in Yemen. Riyadh says Iranian support for militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq as well as Yemen undermines strong government and boosts extremist militancy among disenfranchised Sunnis.
