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  • February 18, 2025
Syria latest: Syrian rebel leader says he will name Assad officials wanted for torture

Syria latest: Syrian rebel leader says he will name Assad officials wanted for torture

What’s next for Iran after Assad’s collapse in Syria?published at 21:59 Greenwich Mean Time December 9

Kasra Naji
Special Correspondent, BBC Persian TV

An Iranian man reads a newspaper with a photo of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran, Iran, December 8, 2024Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

An Iranian man in Tehran yesterday reads a newspaper with deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the cover

Hardline Islamist lawmakers occupying Iran’s parliament are angry at the speed at which the Islamic republic’s biggest investment in the region is falling apart.

Iran supported the Assad regime throughout the civil war in Syria, with weapons, troops, oil and money.

Thousands of soldiers sent by Iran to Syria were killed in the battles.

Syria provided a land corridor to supply Hezbollah in Lebanon with weapons.

But for now, Iranian officials are keeping quiet. And the top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard are nowhere to be seen.

Iran’s supreme leader is expected to speak on this subject on Wednesday.

Pro-government demonstrators hold up a portrait of the supreme leaderImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Pro-government demonstrators in Iran hold up a portrait of the supreme leader

Only Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has spoken publicly.

He says Iran was caught off guard by how little resistance the Syrian army put up and how quickly the rebels advanced on Damascus.

“We never intended to replace the Syrian army,” he says. But he puts on a brave face and says the so-called axis of resistance – the coalition of formerly Iran, Syria and armed militias in the region – will continue to fight Israel – now without Syria.

Syria was the focal point for taking the battle to Israel’s borders.

Now this policy is in ruins. Iran will have to pick itself up and think again.