Assad Rejects Proposal to Move His Family to Iran

Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's Minister of Intelligence, stated that Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, has rejected a proposal from Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to move Assad's family to Iran. Alavi made these remarks on Saturday, April 23, during an interview with the Al-Mayadeen television network in Lebanon, adding that Assad told Soleimani that his family is no different from other Syrian families and that they will remain in Damascus. He did not provide further details about when Soleimani's proposal was made or its relation to the conditions of the civil war in Syria. However, previously, on November 16 of last year, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs, mentioned that Iranian officials had proposed to Bashar Assad two years prior to send his family to Iran due to the ongoing crisis in the country, but he did not accept the offer. Asma Assad, Bashar Assad's wife, is a British-born citizen and has been banned from traveling to EU member states since 2012 due to sanctions. Since the onset of the conflict in Syria, the Islamic Republic has been actively involved in the country, fighting alongside forces supporting Assad against his opponents. Despite a significant number of Iranian forces being killed or wounded in Syria, Iranian military officials insist that their presence is advisory in nature. Ali Akbar Velayati, an international advisor to Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly stated that Iran's presence in Syria is at the official request of the Syrian government and that the Islamic Republic does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of any country. According to a report on Sunday (April 24) by Reuters, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence also identified Raqqa province in Syria as one of the areas from which the Islamic State organizes operations against Iran. Alavi stated that ISIS has repeatedly attempted to send terrorists from this region into Iran, but all of their dispatched forces have either been arrested or killed. He added that, for example, ISIS tried to send terrorists to Iran during the parliamentary elections in March of last year but failed. The Minister of Intelligence supported the Islamic Republic's military confrontation with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, stating that if Iran had not faced ISIS in these two countries, it would have had to confront them in its western provinces. Alavi further noted that Iran's relationship with its allies (Syria, Lebanon) is stronger than ever, and they are achieving 'new victories' every day.