An unusual and rare speech by General Barahouz Asbati, a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guards in Syria, caused a storm in Iran after it was leaked to the media. In the speech, delivered at a central mosque in Tehran, Asbati openly admitted the severe defeat suffered by Iran in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Asbati described the loss in Syria as a strategic failure for Iran. "I don't consider the fall of Syria to be something to be proud of," he said. "We were badly defeated, we suffered a fatal blow and it's very difficult."
His remarks stood in stark contrast to the official narrative that the Iranian leadership tried to convey, which for weeks tried to minimize the significance of the loss, while claiming that Iran would continue to respect any political settlement in Syria.
Asbati exposed deep tensions between Iran and the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the months preceding his ouster. According to him, Assad repeatedly rejected Iranian proposals to open a front against Israel from Syrian territory, especially after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
In addition, he harshly criticized Russia, which deceived Iran by claiming that its fighter jets were bombing the rebels, but in fact they were bombing open areas. "The Russians turned off their radar systems," Asbati claimed, allowing Israel to attack Iranian targets without hindrance.
* Channel 14 contributed to this article.
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