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)

FULL ARTICLE W/VIDEO HERE:
Iranian Soldiers Running The Show In Syria - Business Insider

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

Iran and Hezbollah 'have built 50,000-strong force to help Syrian regime' | World news | guardian.co.uk

 Syrian rebels taking on the Assad-Iran-Hezbollah-Moscow Alliance

Iran and Hezbollah have built a 50,000-strong parallel force in Syria to help prolong the life of the Assad regime and to maintain their influence after his fall, Israel's military intelligence chief has claimed.

Major General Aviv Kochavi said Iran intended to double the size of this Syrian "people's army", which he claimed was being trained by Hezbollah fighters and funded by Tehran, to bolster a depleted and demoralised Syrian army.

Kochavi, the director of military intelligence in the Israel defence forces (IDF), also said Assad's troops had readied chemical weapons but so far had not been given the order for them to be used.....

FULL ARTICLE: Iran and Hezbollah 'have built 50,000-strong force to help Syrian regime' | World news | guardian.co.uk

Death Merchant Iran steps up weapons lifeline to Syria’s Assad: diplomats - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page

Iran has significantly stepped up military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in recent months. (Reuters)

Reuters, United Nations - Iran has significantly stepped up military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in recent months, solidifying its position alongside Russia asthe government's lifeline in an increasingly sectarian civilwar, Western diplomats said.
 
Iranian weapons continue to pour into Syria from Iraq butalso increasingly along other routes, including via Turkey and Lebanon, in violation of a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, Western officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Iraqi and Turkish officials denied the allegations.
 
Iran’s acceleration of support for Assad suggests the Syrian war is entering a new phase in which Iran may be trying to end the battlefield stale mate by redoubling its commitment to Assadand offering Syria’s increasingly isolated government a crucial lifeline, the envoys said...........

FULL ARTICLE: Iran steps up weapons lifeline to Syria’s Assad: diplomats - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page

KILLING FOR ASSAD: Hezbollah’s new low - NYPOST.com

By AMIR TAHERI

EXCERPT:

Created by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah’s army is designed mainly to bully the Lebanese into submission. It is also used for terrorist operations in other countries, including Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.

But it has hit a new low now, joining the despot Bashar al-Assad’s murder squads against Syrian people.

Last September when I reported that Hezbollah was fighting in Syria, the group and its masters in Tehran launched a campaign of denial. “Hezbollah would never fire a bullet against Muslim brothers,” the party’s TV station, Al-Manar, repeated.

Yet echoes of Hezbollah’s involvement in the massacre of civilians in Syria have been heard across the Middle East. Even the Lebanese media, operating with a Hezbollah gun pressed to their heads, confirm the story — albeit in a roundabout way............

FULL ARTICLE: Hezbollah’s new low - NYPOST.com

IRANIAN-HEZBOLLAH SUBVERSIVE MILITIA IN SYRIA? Rise of the Militias in the Middle East

 
Rise of the Militias in the Middle East