TEHRAN, December 20 (MNA) – Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Akbar Ahmadian says Iran does not regret spending on the fight against ISIL Takfiri terrorist group in Syria.He made the remarks in an interview with Khamenei.ir, the official website of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Thursday, days after foreign-backed armed groups announced the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where Iranian military advisors were present.

He was asked about propaganda launched by anti-Iran media over Tehran's military advisory role in Syria over the past years, according to Press TV "We do not regret the cost we incurred...

because our presence and expenditure were for our own security and we achieved what we expected," he said.

"If ISIL had not been eliminated in Syria and Iraq, today we would have to fight it at home at a cost ten times more." Ahmadian also noted that the elimination of Daesh completely thwarted the United States' plots and rendered their multi-year investment fruitless.

The Americans built an army or a government against the Islamic Revolution, but Iran disrupted their plan, and this achievement is enough to pay for the country's presence in Syria, he emphasized.

In 2014, ISIL captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria in lightning attacks, declaring the areas it controlled as “caliphate.” However, Iraqi and Syrian forces, with the help of Iran, managed to reverse Daesh’s gains and ultimately liberate their countries from the US-sponsored terror outfit some three years later.

On December 8, the foreign-backed armed groups, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), announced the fall of Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught.

Elsewhere in his interview, the top security official said Iran eventually managed to strengthen and equip Palestine and Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance group and make them self-reliant.

"Today, Hezbollah is a completely independent and self-reliant group.

In Gaza, for example, they (resistance fighters) are producing rockets and missiles for themselves inside tunnels," he added.

Ahmadian further highlighted the power of Hezbollah, along with that of Yemen's Ansarullah and the Palestinian resistance groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"No one can eliminate Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Ansarullah.

They have become part of the people, who are equipped and mature while having the knowledge and technology to manufacture the items needed to defend themselves," he said.

MNA