Iran Says Syrian Government Will Not Fall

Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will not fall and Iran stands beside it, the top foreign policy adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the Syrian government and will oppose those who act against Syria," Ali Akbar Velayati said in remarks reported by the Fars news agency.

"The attempt to topple the Syrian government will not become reality and the front line of confrontation with the Zionist regime (Israel) will not disappear," he said.

Velayati said Syria -- Iran's principal ally in the Middle East -- would resist what was deemed to be foreign interference by the United States to bring down Assad's regime.

"With the help of the Arabs... America has targeted the most sensitive area of the resistance axis, not knowing that Iran, Iraq and Hizbullah are firmly standing by Syria," he said.

He added that veto-wielding U.N. Security Council permanent members China and Russia were backing the Damascus regime.

Velayati said, however, that Iran was urging Syria to adopt reforms as it confronts an uprising that erupted in March last year.

"There are problems in Syria and with its governing methods," he acknowledged. "Iran has repeatedly advised Syria to implement needed reforms and they have carried out that task reasonably," he said.

Human rights groups say the violence in Syria has now killed more than 7,600 people.