On Wednesday morning, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel of being behind the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. This marked the first time Khamenei had spoken about the regime’s collapse, and he stated, “A neighboring government of Syria has played an obvious role in this regard and is still playing it now, everyone can see this.”
He went on to blame the United States and the “Zionist regime,” suggesting that they had planned the downfall of Assad’s government in advance, “in dark rooms.” Iran had invested billions in supporting Assad’s regime throughout the Syrian civil war, seeing his rule as central to its regional “axis of resistance”—a network established by Khamenei and the late Qassem Soleimani, who commanded the IRGC Quds Force.
Losing control over Syria is a major setback for Iran, as it has been the primary conduit for supplying Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. An IRGC official shared with The Telegraph, “You need someone there to send arms to [but] they are either getting killed or escaping. Now the focus is on how to move forward from this impasse.” The official added, “For now, there are no discussions about arms, as everyone is trying to understand what is really happening and how dangerous it is for Iran.”
{Matzav.com}