Iran, in continuing to support the Syrian government's crackdown against protestors, publicly stated that it is sending military personnel from its elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to Syria.
| "Today, we are involved in fighting every aspect of a war, a military one in Syria, and a cultural one as well," |
"Today, we are involved in fighting every aspect of a war, a military one in Syria, and a cultural one as well," Gen. Salar Abnoush, a Revolutionary Guard commander said in addressing a group of volunteer trainees Monday, as reported by Daneshjoo News Agency, an online pro-regime student-run media platform.
Though many have pointed for quite some time to the symbiotic relationship between Tehran and Damascus, including Iran's training of Syrian cyber police and sending tactical support and cash, the statement appears to be the Iranian regime's first public account of military participation in Syria.
Public acknowledgment of Iran's manpower support and military involvement in Syria comes at a time when international pressure against Syria is at its peak and the Syrian regime's massacre against its civilians is most violent. Syrian military defections are on the rise, and many soldiers are often unwilling to fire at protesting crowds.
"Today, Syria is resisting as our front's surrogate, and we all have a responsibility to support it and to not let the line fall," Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Mullah Hussein Taeb as saying. Taeb is a well-known suppressor of the 2009 Iranian uprisings, as head of intelligence for the Revolutionary Guard, and right-hand man to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 
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