Iran has signed a deal to rebuild Syria’s armed forces, which have been depleted by more than seven years civil war, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on Monday. Iran appropriates Syrian military planting Shiite militants, intelligence apparatuses, and military hardware to protect its interests rather than an irrelevant Assad.
Hatami, on a two-day visit to Syria, told the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV station that the agreement also stipulates helping rebuild Syria’s military industry.
The announcement comes as the U.S. under President Donald Trump shifts is toughening its stance on Iran’s support for Syria’s sociopath Baschar al-Assad.
The White House has demanded that Iran extract itself from Syria as an essential precondition to lifting sanctions that went into effect earlier this month.
Israel has also been critical of Iran’s expansionism intoSyria, saying it won’t tolerate a permanent Iranian military presence near its frontiers.
Syria is Now Iran’s 32nd Province
Iran has been an essential backer of Syria’s government in the civil war now in its seventh year, providing advisers, military supplies, training and thousands of militiamen to fight alongside the Syrian army.
The precise details of the agreement were not announced. However, when Iran appropriates a country, it usually means it is planting Shiite militants and civilians to further cleanse Syria of all Sunni Muslims. Syria extends Iranian expansionism and terror.
The Syrian government does not release casualty numbers, but monitoring groups say the government has lost tens of thousands of fighters since the civil war broke out in 2011.
Assad, who has ruled with an iron fist of terror since inheriting the presidency from his father in 2000, now rules over a shattered, disjointed, and hardly cohesive country.
At least 600,000 people have been killed in the war, according to monitoring groups, and the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia estimates the economic damage to the country at over $300 bn. The 600,000 figure is an estimate since many who disappeared have not been accounted for.
The government and its international backers have described the conflict as a war against terrorism and enemies abroad, chiefly the U.S. and other western nations.
When in reality it is a war by a sociopath ruler against his own people. They have revolted to end his routine violence and terror.
AP contributed to this article.
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