‘Iran was defeated very badly’ in Syria, admits top general, says another attack on Israel is not on the table

A worker tears down the pictures of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Lebanon’s late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a gas station in Nubl, a Shi’ite village seized by rebels, in rural Aleppo, Syria, December 11, 2024. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria last month and the subsequent expulsion of the large Iranian presence, the ayatollah regime has publicly sought to downplay the loss. However, internally, power factions quickly turned on each other to assign blame.