A Syrian human rights organization said Iranian military forces and Hezbollah were preparing to withdraw from southern Syria. London also confirmed that the aforementioned military forces will soon leave the governorates of Daraa and Quneitra, which are adjacent to the border with Israel. However, a senior Syrian official vehemently denied this report. In an interview published this morning by the Russian news agency RT, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected, however, Israel's claims of an Iranian military presence in his country. "Iran is assisting us, but we have no Iranian forces," he said. “A few weeks ago Israel claimed to have attacked the phantom Iranian bases,” Assad added, “but in reality there were dozens of Syrian soldiers killed or wounded and not even one Iranian. Therefore, this is a specious falsity ”.
