THE PROOF: Iranian Soldiers Running The Show In Syria - Business Insider

by Michael Kelley

We already knew that Iran had troops on the ground in Syria last summer and the Islamic Republic  is calling the shots, but new footage recorded by a cameraman attached to the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards details just how much Iran is invested in the civil war.

"If Assad falls, Iran's foreign policy objectives would be constrained. So it's doing everything it can to keep Assad in power, " Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies told BBC, which did an investigation based on the footage.....(CONTINUED)

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Iranian Soldiers Running The Show In Syria - Business Insider

CBS: Iran caught in lie about involvement in Syrian civil war - YouTube

LINK: CBS: Iran caught in lie about involvement in Syrian civil war - YouTube

MUST-READ: Iranian_Strategy_in_Syria.pdf

Inter Press Service News Agency

Iranian President Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Assad, and Hezbollah's Nasrallah appear together on a poster in Damascus, Syria.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has conducted an extensive, expensive, and integrated effort to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power as long as possible while setting conditions to retain its ability to use Syrian territory and assets to pursue its regional interests should Assad fall.

The Iranian security and intelligence services are advising and assisting the Syrian military in order to preserve Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power. These efforts have evolved into an expeditionary training mission using Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces, Quds Force, intelligence services, and law enforcement forces.  The deployment of IRGC Ground Forces to conflict abroad is a notable expansion of Iran’s willingness and ability to project military force beyond its borders.

Iran has been providing essential military supplies to Assad, primarily by air.  Opposition gains in Syria have interdicted many ground resupply routes between Baghdad and Damascus, and the relative paucity of Iranian port-visits in Syria suggests that Iran’s sea-lanes to Syria are more symbolic than practical. The air line of communication between Iran and Syria is thus a key vulnerability for Iranian strategy in Syria.  Iran would not be able to maintain its current level of support to Assad if this air route were interdicted through a no-fly zone or rebel capture of Syrian airfields...........

FULL 43-PAGE PDF LINK: Iranian_Strategy_in_Syria.pdf