The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani told Press TV on Sunday that recent allegations about negotiations between Iran and Israel regarding the former’s withdrawal from southern Syria are “baseless,” and are intended to weaken the forces confronting Israel.
“The start and spread of such baseless rumors, which are increasing in number, represent a futile effort to give legitimacy to the Zionist regime and weaken the resistance front’s will in its confrontation with Israel,” Shamkhani insisted.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi also dismissed reports in Arab media about the Islamic Republic holding “indirect negotiations” with Israel over the Syrian conflict, saying such claims are aimed at distracting public opinion from “Israeli atrocities.”
On Friday, Al Arabiya on Friday cited “well-informed military sources” who claimed that Iranian and Hezbollah forces have begun withdrawing from areas in Southern Syria and Daraa. Those source said that only a few troops loyal to Iran have been left behind and are expected to “continue their withdrawal in the coming few days.”
Al Arabiya, like several Arab media outlets, suggested that Iran’s withdrawal is in response to Israeli and Russian demands, and that President Assad’s forces would move into southern Syria to replace the Iranian forces.
Shamkhani’s statement was supported on Sunday by the Spokesperson for the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, who told reporters in Tehran that Iran is not planning to withdraw its troops from Syria.
All of which is in direct contradiction with Syria’s foreign minister Walid al-Moallem’s statement on Saturday that Tehran has no combat forces or bases in his country, other than some Iranian military advisers who are embedded with Syrian troops.
“There are Iranian advisers in Syria some of whom were martyred while working with the Syrian Arab army and their presence is part of an agreement and in co-ordination with the armed forces on where they should be,” al-Moallem said. “There are no fixed military bases for the Islamic Republic of Iran and what Israel is circulating are lies.”
But Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia announced on Friday that an agreement had been reached on “certain disengagement in the southwest of Syria and, I think, my understanding is that an agreement has been reached.”
It looks like the Iranians, Syrians and Russians need to go into a café somewhere in Damascus and synchronize their announcements.