Syrian official blames Syria's enemies for Iran's unrest

DAMASCUS, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Wednesday that the enemies of Syria have moved their battle into Iran after failing to achieve their schemes in Syria, according to state news agency SANA.

Referring to the alliance of Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, Mekdad told a visiting Iranian parliamentarian delegation that the victories of the "axis of resistance" in Syria against the terror groups have foiled the foreign schemes in Syria.

Their failure in Syria pushed them to move the battle to Iran, Mekdad said, referring to the anti-government protests that flared in Iran over the past few days.

Mekdad stressed his government's backing of Iran in the face of terrorism and the "riots backed by Israel and the United States in Iran."

A day earlier, Syria's Foreign Ministry slammed the anti-government protests in Iran as a "conspiracy," stressing Iran's ability to foil it.

In a statement, the ministry said the Syrian government vehemently condemns the stances of the United States and Israel regarding the current protest movement in Iran.

It highlighted the "destructive role" of such countries in destabilizing the peace and stability in the region "with the aim of controlling its resources."

The ministry also attributed the role of the U.S. and Israel to their desire to "weakening the axis of resistance in the region following the wobbling of their conspiratorial project and the victory on the terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq."

Iran was a major partner in defeating the Western project in Syria, the ministry stressed, as Tehran has played an important role in shoring up the Syrian government forces in the face of the foreign-backed militant groups in Syria during the country's nearly seven-year-old conflict. Enditem