Tehran
\nIran\u2019s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday he will leave Tehran for Damascus to deliver a message of support for Syria\u2019s government and armed forces, state media said, after a lighting advance by rebels.
\nTehran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war that broke out in 2011. Iran maintains it does not have combat troops in Syria, only officers who provide military advice and training.
\n\u201cI am going to Damascus to convey the message of the Islamic Republic to the Syrian government,\u201d Araghchi said, emphasising Tehran will \u201cfirmly support the Syrian government and army,\u201d the IRNA state news agency reported.
\nIslamist-led rebels on Saturday seized Aleppo\u2019s airport and dozens of nearby towns after overrunning most of Syria\u2019s second city Aleppo, a war monitor said.
\nSyria\u2019s army confirmed that the rebels had entered \u201clarge parts\u201d of the city of around two million people and said \u201cdozens of men from our armed forces were killed\u201d.
\nAraghchi again called the surprise rebel offensive a plot by the United States and Israel. \u201cThe Syrian army will once again win over these terrorist groups as in the past,\u201d the foreign minister added.
\nAn Iranian news agency reported earlier that a general in Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in Syria on Thursday during the fighting.
\nOn Saturday, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry said its consulate in Aleppo had come under attack, but staff members were safe.
\nForeign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Araghchi who will visit Ankara for consultations with Turkish officials after his stop in Damascus.
\nSince 2020, the rebel enclave in Syria\u2019s northwestern Idlib region has been subject to a Turkish- and Russian-brokered truce that had largely been holding despite repeated violations.
\nBut the insurgents\u2019 launch on Wednesday of a surprise offensive against the city of Aleppo shattered the truce, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
\nThe Syrian government had regained control of a large part of the country in 2015 with the support of its Russian and Iranian allies, and in 2016 the entire city of Aleppo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran Iran\u2019s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday he will leave Tehran for Damascus to deliver a message of support for Syria\u2019s government and armed forces, state media said, after a lighting advance by rebels. Tehran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war that broke out in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-446863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n