Tehran warns 'foreign intervention in Syria would be an attack on Iran'

Any foreign attack on Syria would be considered an attack on Iran, a senior Iranian official warned as the first Patriot missile batteries were declared operational along Turkey's tense border with Syria.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's decision to deploy six Patriot missile batteries in Turkish borderlands has rankled the Syrian government and its chief allies, Iran and Russia.

Tehran and Moscow view the move as a provocation that could escalate hostilities and widen the almost two-year-old Syrian conflict. About 400 troops from the US, Germany and the Netherlands are expected to accompany the Patriot batteries.

The comments on Saturday by Ali Akbar Velayati, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are among Tehran's strongest public declarations to date of support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's major ally in the Arab world.

Velayati noted Syria's crucial role in the "golden resistance chain" against Israel and the US. The Iran-led "resistance" front includes Syria, Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.

"An attack on Syria would be considered an attack on Iran and Iran's allies," Velayati told the semi-official Mehr news agency.