Syrian youth will resist regime: Iran's supreme leader

Young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's almost 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule.

Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah.

In an address on Sunday, Khamenei said the "young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

"What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," he said.

"God willing, he will overcome them."

Khamenei accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government to seize resources.

"Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them," he said.

Iran and its militant allies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks in the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon in November.

Khamenei denied such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that the Islamic Republic did not depend on them.

"If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force," he said.