Iranian official hails ‘victory’ on Iraq-Syria border

By Murat Kara Dag

TEHRAN

Ali Akbar Velayati, head of strategy at Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, has described the reported concentration of Iranian troops on Syria’s border with Iraq as a “strategic victory”.

At a Tuesday press conference, Velayati described the development as “a strategic victory for the resistance axis, which stretches from Tehran into Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon," according to Iran’s IRNA news agency.

He added: “This success achieved by the Iraqi and Syrian armies and their allies represents a clear defeat for the U.S., which has failed to achieve its goals in both countries.”

According to reports, Iran’s Afghan Shia Fatemiyoun Brigade, which is affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (RGC), has recently moved into areas on the Iraq-Syria border following the withdrawal of Daesh terrorists.

Photos have recently appeared online showing Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s RGC-affiliated Quds Force, along with Fatemiyoun Brigade fighters, in the border area between the two countries.