Meridor: Assad ouster would be a major blow to Iran

Highlighting connection, Iranian FM set to arrive in Turkey for talks on Syria and Iranian citizens seized by rebels there.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor 311 (R) (photo credit: David W Cerny / Reuters)
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor 311 (R)
(photo credit: David W Cerny / Reuters)
Despite uncertainty about who will replace Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israel supports regime change in Syria, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor said on Tuesday.
“I am not going to try to calculate when Assad’s end will come, but when it happens, Iran’s biggest ally will be gone,” Meridor said.
It will be a major blow to the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis, he said. “I hope it will happen, even though I don’t know when or how.”
Speaking to Army Radio, Meridor added that the state of the northern border will depend on “what kind of Syria” will come after its current president is deposed.
“I hope the new Syria will understand that joining Iran is a mistake that brings isolation from the Western world,” Meridor said.
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He expressed hope that Syria’s next government will maintain the 1974 cease-fire and be strong, stable and able to keep the border with Israel quiet.
The minister pointed out that there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the situation in Syria.
“Israel is very powerful and strong, and we are able to defend ourselves, but we don’t control everything,” he stated. “Uprisings by people who no longer fear their leaders do not depend on us, and we do not decide what will happen in the end.”
Any other talk is speculation, Meridor concluded.