Senior Iranian Official Says US & Saudi Presence In Syria Is Illegal

A senior adviser to the supreme leader of Iran, has said the presence of the United States and Saudi Arabia in Syria is illegal. Ali Akbar Velayati, who advises Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, said on Saturday: “The presence in Syria by such countries as the US and Saudi Arabia, who intervene there without the Syrian government’s consent, is illegal” Press TV reports: “Making decisions as to Syria’s future is up to Syrian people,” he said, adding, “Others are disallowed to meddle in Syria’s internal affairs.” Saudi Arabia is widely reported to be providing lavish financial and ideological support for the Takfiri militants operating in Syria. Riyadh also backs the so-called High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which is an opposition group. The HNC has so far turned down two United Nations (UN) proposals aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict. Many of the Takfiri terrorists operating against Damascus in Syria are believed to follow Wahhabism, a strand of extremist “ideology” preached by government-sanctioned clerics in Saudi Arabia. The United States has also been leading a number of countries in a bombing campaign with the declared goal of uprooting Daesh in Syria since 2014. The campaign, which has forgone both a UN mandate [...]