Iran Protecting Syria Civilians, Even Families of Terrorists

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani has, in an interview with the Arabic-language al-Vefagh newspaper, weighed in on the latest developments in the campaign against terrorists in Syria. The following are the highlights of the interview.

[Questioned on the transfer of ISIS militants and their families to the Al-Badiyah region in Syria, Shamkhani said] Hezbollah’s move to allow a number of militants under siege to move from an operational front to another is an “operational tactic” and will not change the strategy of fighting terrorists.

A similar incident had earlier happened in Qalamoun region in Aleppo on the Lebanon-Syria border, and armed militants were allowed to move to Idlib after surrendering their weapons. Such a development will have no bearing on the determination to fight terrorists.

We are as determined in fighting terrorists as in preventing human catastrophes against terrorists’ families, including women and children, and this is the difference between the resistance front’s campaign against ISIS and the US-led coalition’s indiscriminate bombardments in which many civilians have been killed.

Some countries which claim to be fighting terrorism lack sincerity and seriousness. What effective measures have these countries and their US-led coalition adopted so far in fighting terrorists or liberating areas held by ISIS or other Takfiri groups.

We have, time and again, received well-documented reports suggesting that the US-led coalition has been trying to manage ISIS rather than fight the terror group, and that it has helped the terrorists flee the battlefield rather than fighting them on occasions when there was a possibility to combat militants.

In order to cover up its backing for ISIS over the past years, Washington is pretending to be fighting the terror group and stopping the implementation of an agreement with Hezbollah to allow the relocation of terrorists’ families in Syria.

So far, we have seen the US and its allies have simply bombarded residential areas, killed women and children, targeted the positions of the Syrian Army and the Popular Mobilization Units, carried out some ineffective limited operations and sent logistical supplies to terrorists.

Today, the resistance front represented by Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah, are fighting and dealing a blow to terrorists with a steely resolve, sincerity and a brilliant track record. They have managed to inflict heavy defeats on terrorist groups, pushing them into the path of annihilations and saving the world from the widespread danger of Takfiri terrorism.

Many of the resistance front troopers were martyred while fighting to safeguard the security of the regional nations, including martyr Mohsen Hojaji, who was beheaded by ISIS.