Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War

Iranian officials said Jan. 18 that they were strongly opposed to the United States joining Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan next week, local media reported.

"We are hostile to their presence and we have not invited them," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said late Jan. 17, according to the Tasnim news agency, AFP reported.  

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Dec. 22 the regaining of full control of the northern city of Aleppo was a victory for his Russian and Iranian allies as much as his own country. 

Hundreds of Iranian forces arrived in Syria ten days ago with weapons to take part in ground operations, Reuters reported, quoting "a Lebanese source."

The agency said that the Iranian troops and Hezbollah will join a ground offensive against Islamic State, that will be supported from the air by Russian planes.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on August 12, and called on regional countries to "fight terrorism and extremism".