Khamenei aide: Toppling Assad ‘red line’ for Iran

DUBAI – A senior aide to Iran’s supreme leader warned against the overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad, saying his fate was a “red line”, in one of the Islamic state’s strongest messages of support for the Damascus government.

…

“If the Syrian President Bashar Assad is toppled, the line of resistance in the face of Israel will be broken,” Ali Akbar Velayati, who is seen as a potential contender in Iran’s June presidential election, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.