Iran ready to 'train' Syrian army

IRAN: Iran is ready to help "train" the Syrian army if Damascus seeks such assistance, the commander of the Islamic republic's army ground forces, General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, was quoted as saying on Sunday.

"As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide them with the training, but won't have any active involvement in the operations," he said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.

"The Syrian army has accumulated experience during years of conflict with the Zionist regime (Israel) and is able to defend itself and doesn't need foreign assistance," he added.

His remarks came as a senior Israeli source said on Sunday that the Jewish state carried out an air strike near Damascus overnight, targeting Iranian missiles destined for Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement.

"The target was Iranian missiles which were destined for Hezbollah," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

AFP