Iran’s leaders continue to warn against a possible U.S.-led military strike on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical weapons attack by President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Iranian political and military leaders joined Russia on Thursday in warning the United States and its allies that any military strike on Syria would ignite a wider Middle East war, lead to Israel’s destruction and violate international law.
Warnings from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard top commander and the armed forces chief of staff alluded to past foreign policy ‘mistakes’ by Washington that sparked bloody conflict in the region and deeply indebted the United States, the LA Times reports.
The comment by the military chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, was an obvious reference to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 in vain pursuit of Saddam Hussein’s purported cache of weapons of mass destruction.
“Any military action against Syria will drive the Zionists to the edge of fire,” Firouzabadi said in a statement carried by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. His warning referred to Israel, which Iranian and other Shiite Muslim militants have vowed to strike in retaliation if its Western allies attack Syria, according to the report.
China calls for political solution to Syria crisis
Xinhua reports: “China is urging caution and calling for dialogue ahead of an expected military strike by the West against Syria. China voiced its support for a U.N. investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons, saying all parties should be more patient.
“Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for restraint and calm from all parties.
“In an interview, Wang Yi says a political solution is the only way out of the situation, and that outside military intervention runs counter to the principles of the U.N. Charter. Wang notes that China is opposed to the use of chemical weapons and it supports the U.N. inspectors conducting a professional investigation into their alleged use.”
