Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 6
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran has no plan on deploying massive military forces in Syria, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced, Feb. 6.
"Our policy is not dispatching massive forces to Syria, though there is an enthusiasm and very much willingness among IRGC members to take part in battles in Syria," Fars news agency quoted Jafari as saying during the funeral of top IRGC general Mohsen Gajarian, who was killed in Syria on Feb. 4.
Jafari also said "defending Syria means defending the Islamic resistance."
Iran calls the enmity with Israel the Islamic resistance.
Jafari's statement came a day after Saudi Arabia announced that it is ready to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight the "Islamic State" terrorist group (IS, aka ISIL or ISIS), if US-led coalition leaders agree to the offer.
Ashton Carter, the US defense secretary, welcomed the Saudi offer to participate in the ground operations in Syria.
"That kind of news is very welcome," he told reporters Feb. 4.
Jafari further said the major threats are far away from Iranian borders, because the Islamic resistance has spread.
"Palestine and Lebanon's wars [with Israel] have indicated that the advanced armies are deficient against the Islamic resistance," he said.
He went on to claim that after the failures in war with the Islamic resistance, "the enemies created Salafi groups like the IS, getting help from Saudi Arabia."
Major General Jafari also quoted Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as saying that if Iran doesn't fight the enemies far away from its borders, the threats would come close to its own territory and it would have to fight against the enemies inside the country.