Iran president urges Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday called for the withdrawal of Israel from Syrian territory following the fall of long-time Tehran ally Bashar al-Assad.

His remarks came during a visit to Tehran by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to discuss trade, cooperation and recent developments in Syria.

"The need for the Zionist regime to withdraw from the territories it occupied and the importance of respecting religious sentiments (in Syria), particularly regarding Shia holy places and shrines, were among the concerns" raised in the meeting, said Pezeshkian in a briefing alongside Sudani.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also met with Sudani, warning of the "role of foreign governments" in Syria, according to remarks carried by official news agency IRNA.

Assad fled Syria after rebel forces led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the capital Damascus after a whirlwind offensive.

Since his fall, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military facilities, saying they aimed to prevent strategic weapons from falling into hostile hands.

Israeli troops also occupied strategic positions in a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Syrian-controlled territory and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has illegally occupied ever since.

Iran has condemned Israel's seizure of land in Syria and called for its withdrawal.

During the visit, Sudani affirmed Iraq's respect for "the will of the Syrian people and support for any political or constitutional system they choose themselves without external interference."

He also noted Iraq's "readiness to cooperate with all parties ... to achieve a smooth peaceful transition to a system that reflects the will of the Syrian people."

In his meeting with Sudani, Khamenei also said that the presence of US troops in Iraq, who are there as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition, "must be resisted with steadfastness".