Iran denies sending combatants to Syria

[Anthea]

Iran has again denied it has any active military combatants in Syria emphasizing that its forces in Syria are merely playing an advisory role to the Syrian regime.

"We don't have any military and special units on Syrian territory. We used to send military advisers from the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) there, upon the Syrian government's request, those are our military advisors, our specialists who are experts in fight against terrorism," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Russia's Sputnik News.

"Those who are fighting in Syria are Syrian army and some volunteers, militia, Syrians who fight terrorism on the territory of the country," he added.

"In accordance with the increased Syrian army operations with Russian support, Iran has begun to increase the amount of military advisers and experts it sends to Syria," Amir Abdollahian added.

The deputy foreign minister acknowledged that some of these advisors have been killed in hostile areas since their deployment.

The deployment of the elite commando unit of the regular Iranian Army (Artesh) to Syria in April raised some eyebrows, on that occasion the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Armed Forces, Ataollah Salehi, insisted they were "volunteers" working under the supervision of the IRGC.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/05052016

[Benny]

An iranian brigadier general was killed only a few days ago near Aleppo:

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/05022016

/Benny

[Anthea]

An iranian brigadier general was killed only a few days ago near Aleppo:

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/05022016

/Benny

Thank you for the link

Perhaps he was on holiday

[Anthea]

Iranian brigadier general killed in battle in Aleppo

Reports from inside Iran say that a second brigadier general was killed in battle in Syria this week.

Muhsin Qajarian who was in Syria as a military advisor was killed in the province of Aleppo.

Pro-government media in Iran described Qajarian as a martyr who “died to protect the shrine,”

Thousands of former Iranian soldiers and officers are believed to have traveled to Syria to fight alongside regime forces under “defenders of the shrine,”

The Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Damascus is one of the holiest places of the Shiite faith.

Second Brig. General Qajarian was a veteran commander during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and was appointed commander of the armored troops in 2011.

Last October General Hossein Hamadani was also killed in northwestern Syria in an Islamic State (ISIS) attack.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/05022016

[Anthea]

I totally loath Assad but logically he is the only option open for Syria

Better the devil you know than the 100s of jihadist groups you do not know

If Assad were brought down the country would plunge even further into utter carnage and chaos

All the various rebel groups would be fighting each other in order to take control of Syria

Changing allegiance almost daily seeking to become part of the controlling group

It is estimated HALF the Syrian population has already fled the country

If Assad goes with him goes any hope of salvation as most assuredly the only people remaining in Syria will be warring jihadists

America's policy of killing everyone and letting God sort them out is not right

The fact that nobody will give accurate civilian body counts is extremely worrying

Both the main warring parties - ISIS and defending Kurds have been barred from taking part in th peace talks is also very wrong

Because unless US intend to wipe out the entire Syrian population, eventually a peace has to be verbally negotiated

I SAY SOONER THAN LATER

US and coalition must STOP playing war games with people's lives