Iran hopes Syria talks will defeat ‘enemies’

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader tells the visiting Syrian deputy foreign minister that Iran hopes Syria peace talks in Geneva will be a success and that the Damascus government will be “victorious against enemies.”

The official IRNA news agency cites Ali Akbar Velayati as telling Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad that Tehran officials “are hopeful that you succeed in the talks as you were successful in war and defending Syrian territory.”

Velayati, an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, says that “despite plenty of damages to Syria, the country resisted against serious attacks, equivalent to a little world war, and became victorious.”

He says that Iran, as well as Shiite-led Iraqi cabinet and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, played a key role in helping Damascus’ government.

— AP