TEHRAN – The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has condemned the U.S. move to impose an aerial blockade on civilians in Syria.

The subjects of the blockade are buses carrying women and children as part of a deal between the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and Daesh terrorists.

“America’s move to lay a siege to women and children seems to be illogical given the country’s history of cooperation with Daesh,” Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.

Iran believes that this is an attempt to undermine the victory of the Lebanese government and the resistance movement over the terrorists, the Foreign Ministry official added.

There is a “fundamental difference” between fight against armed Daesh terrorists and the killing of innocent people, he noted.

Qassemi stated that blockading a number of women and children in a desert by the U.S. has no military value and would not diminish the power of Daesh terrorists. He added it would only stoke more violence in the region.

“The aerial siege against women and children in non-military buses and the death of several pregnant women over the past two days may turn into a humanitarian disaster if continued,” Qassemi said.

He went on to state that Daesh was nearing a complete collapse due to cooperation among the Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi governments and their armies, adding that the fight against the terrorist group was forcefully ongoing to eradicate terrorism in Syria and Iraq.

The spokesperson also expressed Tehran's support for the humanitarian aid by the Lebanese government and Hezbollah to save innocent civilians, saying the move turned Lebanon’s military victory into an even bigger one.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a country which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, particularly Daesh, asks the United Nations to intervene in this issue and prevent the killing of innocent people,” Qassemi said.

The Syrian government on August 27 agreed to a deal between Hezbollah and the Daesh terrorists, which allowed the transfer of the terrorists and their families from the strategic and mountainous region of Qalamoun, close to the border with Lebanon, to eastern Syria.

According to a statement released by Hezbollah, U.S.-led forces had left stranded most of the convoy’s 17 buses in the Syrian desert by destroying the road to Dayr al-Zawr.

“They are also preventing anyone from reaching them even to provide humanitarian assistance to families, the sick and wounded, and the elderly,” said the statement.

The Hezbollah resistance movement accuses the U.S. of hampering an evacuation deal with the Daesh terrorist group.

The deal has been criticized by Washington and some government officials in Iraq as the terrorists are being transferred close to the Iraqi border.

On August 19, Hezbollah and the Syrian army launched an operation to purge Daesh from Qalamoun, located about 330 kilometers (205 miles) north of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Hezbollah launched a major push on July 21 to clear both sides of Lebanon's border with Syria of “armed terrorists.”

SP/PA

