‘Iran was defeated very badly’ in Syria, admits top general, says another attack on Israel is not on the table

Following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria last month and the subsequent expulsion of the large Iranian presence, the ayatollah regime has publicly sought to downplay the loss. However, internally, power factions quickly turned on each other to assign blame.

This week, a leaked recording from a general’s speech revealed that the regime had acknowledged it was “defeated very badly” in Syria. The audio footage came from Iran's top general, Brig.-Gen. Behrouz Esbati, who spoke at a mosque in Tehran last week.

“I don’t consider losing Syria something to be proud of,” Esbati said in the leak first published by Abdi Media, a Geneva-based Iranian news site. “We were defeated, and defeated very badly, we took a very big blow and it’s been very difficult.”

Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati, a senior #Iran regime general in #Syria who has worked also in the Armed Forces General Staff, gave remarks in recent days where he said “I don’t consider losing Syria something to be proud of. We were defeated, and defeated very badly, we took a very… pic.twitter.com/wR74HA1IVE

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) January 8, 2025

Esbati also noted that relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had worsened in the months before his expulsion, as Syria refused to allow Iran’s proxy militias to launch a full war front against Israel on the Golan Heights, despite being presented with detailed military plans.

In addition, Esbati accused Russia of misleading Iran and betraying Assad's regime by dropping bombs on open fields while claiming it was bombing the advancing rebels. He also said Russia colluded with Israel by turning off its air defense radars to allow Israeli jets to strike Iranian targets in Syria.

Esbati stated that regardless of how the still-unstable situation in Syria unfolds, the Iranian regime would seek to recruit new forces in the country. “We can activate all the networks we have worked with over the years,” he said.

“We can activate the social layers that our guys lived among for years; we can be active in social media and we can form resistance cells. Now we can operate there as we do in other international arenas, and we have already started.”

In its public statements, regime officials so far indicated they would tacitly accept the new Syrian government. However, Esbati’s comments confirmed several recent statements made by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who claimed that Syria’s youth would rise against the new government, possibly with Iranian help.

“Do not be deceived by this false show,” Khamenei said last week at a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of former IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, in apparent reference to Syria’s new de-facto leader Ahmad al-Shara’a (al-Jolani).

“Those who are strutting around today will one day be trampled under the feet of the faithful. Those who have encroached on the land of the Syrian people will one day be forced to retreat in the face of the power of Syria's youth,” Khamenei said.

Tehran supported the Assad regime with weapons, funding, and thousands of Shia troops throughout the civil war, using its propaganda arm to consistently denounce the mainly Sunni rebel groups as “terrorists” and fueling sectarian hatred against them.

“Some people, due to a lack of proper analysis and understanding, claim that with the recent events in the region, the blood shed in defense of the shrine was wasted,” Khamenei said. “They are making this grave mistake; the blood was not wasted.”

The reference to a “shrine” highlights the regime’s justification for its military interventions in Iraq and Syria – namely, the defense of Shia holy sites against Sunni jihadists, who have often tried to destroy them.

The most important Shia site in Syria is the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab near the capital, Damascus. Zainab was the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad and daughter of Ali, the most significant figure for Shia Muslims next to Muhammad.

Brig.-Gen. Esbati is a high-ranking commander in the Iranian Armed Forces, which includes the regular military and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

According to the New York Times, Esbati was in charge of Iran’s military operations in Syria until the Assad regime collapsed, and was in close contact with Syrian officials and Russian commanders there.

His speech was held on Dec. 31, and was titled, “Answering Questions about Syria’s Collapse.”

In a Q&A portion, Esbati noted that Iran had already retaliated for the death of Lebanon's Sec.-Gen. Hassan Nasrallah with a missile barrage, adding that a third round of direct missile assaults on Israel was not on the table at the moment.

Esbati said “the situation couldn’t realistically handle” another such assault on Israel at this time.