Iran’s IRGC Commander: Must Derive Lessons from Bitter Syria Experience

Young Syrians sit outside the building of the Iranian embassy which was ransacked after anti-government fighters took Damascus the previous day, with a portrait of Iran's slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, still hanging on its fence in the Syrian capital on December 9, 2024. (AFP)
Young Syrians sit outside the building of the Iranian embassy which was ransacked after anti-government fighters took Damascus the previous day, with a portrait of Iran's slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, still hanging on its fence in the Syrian capital on December 9, 2024. (AFP)
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Iran’s IRGC Commander: Must Derive Lessons from Bitter Syria Experience

Young Syrians sit outside the building of the Iranian embassy which was ransacked after anti-government fighters took Damascus the previous day, with a portrait of Iran's slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, still hanging on its fence in the Syrian capital on December 9, 2024. (AFP)
Young Syrians sit outside the building of the Iranian embassy which was ransacked after anti-government fighters took Damascus the previous day, with a portrait of Iran's slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, still hanging on its fence in the Syrian capital on December 9, 2024. (AFP)

Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Hossein Salami said his country needed to “derive lessons” from the “bitter” experience in Syria.

“Syria is no place for foreign intervention,” he added in wake of the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad's regime by the opposition.

Iran spent billions of dollars to support its ally Assad during Syria’s civil war. The IRGC dispatched forces to Syria to prop up the regime after the war erupted in 2011.

Salami defended Iran’s intervention in Syria, saying: “Everyone could see that the Syrian people were living in dignity when we were there.”

“We did not go to Syria to annex its territories. We did not turn it into an arena to achieve our ambitious aspirations,” he added, according to the Fars news agency.

On Israeli attacks on Syrian army positions after the downfall of the Assad regime, he noted: “We witnessed the unfolding of unfortunate events after the demise of the regime. The Zionists are now capable of seeing as far as Damascus without the need for weapons.”

“We now realize that had the military and armed forces not resisted, the entire country could have been occupied in an instant,” Salami went on to say.

“The people of Damascus understand the value of the men of the resistance. They realize how valuable they were when they were there and what a catastrophe it is now that they are gone,” he claimed.

This was the third time that Salami has commented on the ouster of the regime, which collapsed on December 8.

Last week, he met with lawmakers for closed-door talks. He told them that Iran has not been weakened in the region. Notably absent from the meeting was Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Forces, which is in charge of the IRGC’s foreign operations.

On Thursday, Salami spoke with IRGC commanders, assuring them that Iran has not lost its regional proxies.

Iran had pinned blame on the regime collapse on the Syrian army, Türkiye, the United States and Israel.

Meanwhile, pro-IRGC Iranian media focused their coverage on justifying Iran’s intervention in Syria during the civil war. They also focused on Assad’s fall and its impact on Iran and its proxies.

Front pages of newspapers omitted coverage of the Syrian people’s celebrations of the ouster of the regime to focus on the damage caused by Israeli strikes on Syrian military positions. Photos of senior Turkish and Syrian opposition figures were also plastered on the front page.

MP Ismail Kawthari, an IRGC member, said Assad failed in gaining the army’s support. The military also lacked resources and support, which led to its collapse.

He revealed that Iran remained in contact with the deposed president until the very end, but some officials, such as the prime minister and some military leaders, obstructed the communication.

Syria was a significant route to supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, he stressed.

Moreover, he said Syria officially requested Iran’s intervention during the war to combat ISIS and prevent its spread to the Iranian borders.

He charged that Syria “is still under the control of the Zionist entity, the US and their agents.” He predicted that disputes will emerge between the “forces that were brought together with American funds,” which will allow the Syrian people to realize the “deception and seek out leaders who can achieve security and improve the economy.”



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”