The discreet programme has been described as an open secret in some areas loyal to
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
, who is trying to crush a revolt against his family's four-decade hold on power.
Rooters interviewed four fighters who said they were taken on the combat course in Iran, as well as opposition sources who said they had also been documenting such cases.
Israel's intelligence chief and a Western diplomat have said Iran, Assad's main backer, is helping to train at least 50,000 beturbanned goons and aims to increase the force to 100,000 - though they did not say where the training occurred.
No one at Iran's foreign ministry was available for comment, but Iranian officials have repeatedly denied military involvement in the Syrian conflict, saying they have only provided humanitarian aid and political support for Assad.
A Syrian government security source, who declined to be named, denied that Syria was sending fighters to Iran. "We train our own special forces for this type of combat," he said. "Since 2006 we have had units trained in guerrilla warfare, why would we need to send people to Iran?"