The growing presence of Iran in Syria is a matter of “deep concern” for US, US Defence secretary, Leon Panetta said yesterday, August 14, at a press conference at Washington DC. According to Panetta Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were “trying to develop, trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime”. The Syrian people ought to determine their future, not Iran,” Panetta added.
“This is not just about Syria, this is about finding an excuse to attack Iran”, was the explanation of an Iranian journalist, Ghanbar Naderi, in his interview with Al Jazeera. “It’s obvious that armed groups and gangs have been unable to topple Bashar al-Assad after more than a year, and now they are trying to find a scape goat in Iran again,” he said in an interview from Tehran.
Iran criticized Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey of arming the opposition in Syria in cooperation with Israel and US.
The key international players in Syria’s “war within” have been “more successful at sustaining the fighting than ending it”, concluded the International Crisis Group.
