Assad Gets Boost from Iran Nuclear Deal

Bashar al-Assad congratulated his main ally Iran on the country’s nuclear agreement with Western powers. The Syrian president also clearly signaled he expects the deal to give his government a significant boost in the civil war.

Rebels fighting Assad, meanwhile, expressed concern the deal could expand Iran’s regional influence at their expense.

“We are confident that the Islamic Republic of Iran will support, with greater drive, just causes of nations and work for peace and stability in the region and the world,” Assad wrote to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the text published by state news agency SANA.

“In the name of the Syrian people, I congratulate you and the people of Iran on this historic achievement,” he added in another message to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, according to AFP.

The deal, the Syrian leader said, would be a “major turning point in the history of Iran, the region and the world.”

Iran has been Assad’s steadfast ally since the conflict erupted in March 2011, most recently offering Damascus a $1bn credit line earlier this month. Tehran is also the major backer of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Shiite militia, which is assisting the fight against the Islamic State and rebel groups.

The rebels, meanwhile, were less pleased, suggesting the agreement would assist Assad’s survival.

“This agreement will make the region more dangerous,” said Iyad Shamse, leader of a rebel group in northern Syria called the Asala and Tanmieh Front. “Our fears from this agreement are an increase in Iranian influence in the region and this is what is making Assad happy,” he told Reuters.

A spokesman for an alliance of rebel groups in southern Syria also told the news agency that Iran was backing Assad with “all its force,” and that he was concerned Tehran would now enter the war directly without Washington being able to prevent it. “We are worried,” he said.

U.N. Envoy Meets with Southern Rebels for First Time

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, held his first talks with the Southern Front alliance, which controls wide areas of the southern border zone close to Israel and Jordan, Reuters reported.

The news agency said the meeting underlined “the growing political role of a group helping to contain jihadist influence in the south.”

“We showed him our road map, our vision, how the Southern Front sees the transitional period without Assad,” Southern Front spokesman Issam al-Rayyes told Reuters.

De Mistura also met representatives from other opposition armed groups earlier this month, the report said. The envoy’s spokesperson confirmed both meetings took place but declined to comment on their substance.

The Southern Front alliance includes groups that have received support from Western and Arab states opposed to Assad and is stronger in the areas than jihadist movements such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State, which dominate the insurgency elsewhere.

De Mistura began his wide-ranging consultations with dozens of interested parties in May. He is expected to finalize by the end of July “proposals on a way forward to support Syrian parties in their search for a political solution to the conflict,” his office has said, although some observers are skeptical much will come of it.

U.S. Does Not Support Kurdish Entity in Syria: General

The U.S. special envoy for the coalition against the Islamic State, retired general John Allen, said Washington does not support the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria.

“We don’t support, and I don’t think the Kurds support in northern Syria, a separate governmental entity,” said retired general Allen, Reuters reported.

“It is important that a partner that has ultimately been enabled to defeat Daesh (ISIS) does not become an occupying force,” Allen told a Washington think-tank.

Speculation has been rife that the Kurds may try to establish an autonomous homeland in northern Syria after making significant military gains in the area against ISIS. Ankara, which has tried for decades to militarily suppress Kurdish nationalism, has been especially concerned.

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