News - Middle East: Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani repeatedly advised former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to pay attention to his people.

Qalibaf was speaking in a meeting with university students in Tehran on Sunday, after militant groups, headed by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), seized the Syrian capital following a lightning attack.

“I will say this frankly: Martyr Soleimani repeatedly told Bashar al-Assad that he should pay attention to his people, because apart from Daesh, some of the opposition were armed protest groups who were discussed even at the Astana meetings and had certain concerns,” he said.

Qalibaf stressed that Iran has never confronted those groups but only dealt with the Daesh terrorists.

He emphasized that Iran respects any decision taken by the Syrian people and adopts approaches based on the government that will be formed in Syria.

If the new government in Syria does not pursue an approach based on Daesh terrorists’ ideology and if it has no intention to be in contact with the Israeli regime, Iran will then make efforts to forge unity among Muslim nations, the top Iranian parliamentarian said.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the HTS commander, said Sunday that Syrian state institutions would be supervised by Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali until a transition of power takes place.

The HTS said it would work with the prime minister and called on Syrian military forces in Damascus to stay away from public institutions.

In an address to a cabinet session on Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said opposing factions in Syria must open dialogue to reach a consensus about the country’s political leadership after militants took control of Damascus.

“It is the Syrian people who should make decisions about the country’s future and its political system,” Pezeshkian added.

 Source: Press TV