Iran demands US, Israel withdraw from Syria as larger war brews

Iran’s top diplomat at the United Nations has reiterated its call for the complete withdrawal of US and Israeli forces from Syria as conflict continues to rage on multiple fronts in the Middle East, setting the stage for a possible larger regional war.

The statement was made on Tuesday in the Security Council by Iran’s permanent representative, Amir Saeid Iravani, and Newsweek by the Iranian Mission to the United Nations

“The Syrian people continue to suffer humanitarian crises, aggression, foreign occupation and terrorism,” Iravani said. “Through illegal occupation, inhumane sanctions, politicizing the return of refugees and internally displaced persons and preventing international support for Syria’s reconstruction, certain Western countries are responsible for prolonging the conflict as they seek to impose their will on the Syrian people.”

Iravani specifically targeted the United States, which has severed relations with the Syrian government, which is supported by Iran and Russia, and which provides extensive support to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, which controls large parts of the northeast of the country.

“Any separatist agenda and illegitimate self-rule initiatives must be rejected, and all foreign forces whose presence on Syrian territory is illegal by the Syrian government must withdraw from Syria,” Iravani said. “In this context, the complete, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US forces from Syria is critical to peace and stability in Syria.”

He also accused Israel of its “sustained aggression against Syrian sovereignty, targeting civilians and vital infrastructure” and the “illegal” occupation of the southwestern Golan Heights, which were captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed without international recognition.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been conducting a campaign of airstrikes in Syria for years, targeting suspected positions with links to Iran and factions of its Axis of Resistance coalition, including the powerful Lebanese movement.

As regional tensions rose over the outbreak of war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza, one such attack in April on the Tehran consulate in Damascus killed several Iranian military personnel, including at least two senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran responded with an unprecedented direct missile and drone attack on Israel, which later reportedly carried out an attack on a military base in the Islamic Republic.

Earlier this month, another IRGC adviser was killed in Syria in an attack attributed to Israel, sparking new calls for revenge.

The US has also carried out several rounds of attacks in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The campaign against US troops has been claimed by a coalition of militias from the “Axis of Resistance” calling themselves the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” and has been carrying out rocket and drone attacks for months. The campaign was halted in February after the deaths of three US soldiers on the Jordan-Syria border sparked a series of intensive US attacks in Iraq and Syria.

But factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have repeatedly warned that they are prepared to resume the offensive if President Joe Biden does not order the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Over the weekend, one of the most prominent groups, Kataib Hezbollah, accused the US of carrying out an attack on the Iraqi-Syrian border that killed a fighter from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq member, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military and Hezbollah are engaged in increasingly violent clashes along the Israeli-Lebanese border, raising fears of a full-scale escalation. A recent exchange of warnings with Newsweek by Iranian and Israeli officials.

These concerns were also raised at the UN Security Council on Tuesday by Syria’s permanent representative, Qusay al-Dahhak, who accused the US and its allies of pursuing destabilising policies in the Middle East, particularly through their efforts to undermine the Syrian government and their support for Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza.

However, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government of “obstruction and cruelty” for denying UN humanitarian teams access to refugee camps in the US-held southwestern region of Al-Tanf and threatening to block access to the rebel-held northwest. She also acknowledged the danger of a broader escalation arising from the unresolved civil war in Syria.

“We have known for years that a lack of progress in resolving the Syrian conflict would exacerbate the risks of conflict throughout the region,” said Thomas-Greenfield. “Now that risk has become a reality.”

However, she primarily blamed Tehran and Damascus, which had supported the movements of the allied militias throughout the country.

“Iran and its proxies and partners are increasingly using Syrian territory to threaten Israel and smuggle dangerous weapons,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “Regardless of the arguments the Assad regime makes in this room, Syrians themselves know that Iran’s militant proxies and partners only want to pursue their own destabilizing agenda – not help the Syrian people.”

“At this dangerous moment,” she added, “it is important that we – all of us – work to reduce tensions in Syria and neighboring countries and prevent escalation.”

In his own statement, Iravani reiterated Iran’s commitment to a political solution in Syria, but said such measures must be pursued within the framework of a Syrian-led and UN-supported process and “without any outside interference or pressure or setting an artificial deadline for completion of the work.”

Iran is cooperating with Russia, the Assad backer, and Turkey, which supports the insurgents in the northwest, as part of a trilateral peace process known as the Astana format. Although Ankara is a NATO ally of Washington, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sharply criticized US support for the SDF, considering the group an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

After initially backing rebels fighting to topple Assad, the US shifted its support to the SDF in 2015 after the militant group Islamic State (ISIS) seized large parts of Syria and Iraq. Washington, Tehran and Moscow continue to support efforts to defeat the jihadists, but the group has exploited rival movements to continue carrying out attacks and making efforts to reassert its power abroad, claiming responsibility for high-profile attacks in Russia and threatening the West again.

Russia, for its part, has renewed its calls for a withdrawal of US troops from Syria and its criticism of Israel, as global geopolitical tensions escalate both with the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the still-raging war between Russia and Ukraine.

“The situation in the region remains extremely turbulent amid ongoing military activity in the area of ​​the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the high risk of interference by neighboring countries,” said Russia’s Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzia.

“Meanwhile, the reasons for concern about the humanitarian situation in Syria are growing,” he added. “They are primarily related to the destructive actions of Israel, which continues to carry out indiscriminate attacks on Syrian infrastructure, as well as sporadic clashes between armed groups and US forces.”

Given the ongoing divisions in Syria and across the region, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi said during the same meeting: “Many Syrians live in a climate of fear due to the security situation that remains tense and violent.”