Iran’s President: US Border Plan Targeting Syria’s Territorial Integrity

The American plan to establish a so-called Border Security Force (BSF) in Syria’s border areas “runs counter to international regulations and is a plot against Syria’s territorial integrity and security and the region,” the president said in a meeting with speaker of the People's Council of Syria Hammouda Youssef Sabbagh in Tehran on Tuesday.

It came after the US-led alliance purportedly formed to fight the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group announced on Sunday that it was working with Arab and Kurdish fighters to establish the “Border Security Force”, which would be responsible for preventing a “resurgence” of Daesh in areas where the terrorists had been cleared by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic alliance of predominantly Kurdish fighters.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Rouhani reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to helping the Syrian government and nation, urging efforts to help Syrian refugees return home and reconstruct their country.

The Syrian parliamentarian, for his part, said Damascus would never agree to the presence of US forces in the Arab country and has formally announced that Americans should leave.

Sabbagh also lauded Tehran’s unwavering support for the Syrian government and nation, calling for continued assistance in the process of reconstruction.

In September 2017, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that Iran will assist the Syrian nation in reconstructing their country after the war, in the same way that it contributed to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Arab state amid the crisis.

Syria has been gripped by a civil war since March 2011, with militants from various terrorist groups, including Daesh, pouring into the Arab country.

On November 19, Daesh terrorists were flushed out of their last stronghold in Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

Throughout these years, Iran has remained a close ally of Syria and supports its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy.