Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the increased presence of Iranian military advisers in Syria is aimed at restoring stability there.
"We have no combatant force in Syria, but our military advisers assist that country's central government in its campaign against terrorism," the IRNA agency cited him as saying.
"Those advisers have the required experience and military expertise for an effective anti-terrorism campaign," he said.
Commenting on the question of whether Iran is a strategic ally of Russia or only part of a coalition in Syria, Abdollahian said that Iran "has strategic relations with Moscow."
"Iran's ties with Russia in the post-Islamic Revolution era have never been provisional, or for a certain period of time," TASS cited Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister as saying.
