A senior Iranian military official described south Lebanon as Iran’s first line of defense, an Iranian News Agency reported over the weekend.
"Our frontmost line of defense is no more in Shalamcheh [in Southern Iran], rather this line is now in Southern Lebanon['s border] with Israel as our strategic depth has now stretched to the Mediterranean coasts and just to the North of Israel," said Yahya Safavi, a senior military aide to the Iranian Supreme Leader, the Fars News Agency reported.
Safavi was addressing a group of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps veterans in Isfahan.
He also said that the strategy of the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Europe to overthrow embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad has failed, adding that Iran’s influence has grown in Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean.
