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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Sends Military Students to Syrian Front - 'Live Fire Exercise'
2017-02-24
[VOA] WASHINGTON -- Iran is increasingly using Syrian battlefields as a proving ground for fresh military officers in training, according to Iranian media reports and Syrian opposition figures.

Tehran-based Imam Hossein University, a school affiliated with The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said it recently deployed military leadership students to fight in Syria as part of an educational program designed for future officers, according to state-run media.

Tehran says its forces are in Syria to protect the Zeinab Shrine in Damascus, a Shi'ite holy site. But since 2011, Iran has been a major backer of the Syrian regime in its war with rebel groups across the country, at first sending advisers, then forces from the IRGC expanding far beyond the shrine area.

Morteza Saffari, a senior IRGC commander who heads "the brass hat division" at Imam Hossein University, said at least 100 students from the school have been dispatched to Syria for training in combat situations.

"Some of the students sent for two-month training sessions got martyred (killed), many were injured and some have been deployed in Syria for a longer period," he told Iran's Danshjoo news agency in a recent interview.
Posted by:Besoeker

#9  Not quite. More along the lines of what the Brits still do in 'releasing' troops for service in other countries' militaries.
Posted by: Pappy   2017-02-24 14:16  

#8  Ah...VMI at New Market?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-02-24 12:13  

#7  Hope they were issued with their plastic keys to heaven.
Posted by: grunter   2017-02-24 12:00  

#6   Maybe KSA could bring in some Malaysian hot heads?

Paks, Malaysians...whatever.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-02-24 11:46  

#5  Not necessarily a ramp-up. But it will give the IRGC a core group of future (surviving) senior leaders with combat experience.
Posted by: Pappy   2017-02-24 11:46  

#4  Anyway to ramp up the Shia Sunni war? Seems like Yemen is cooling off. I'd like to see more involvement of KSA v. Iran. Maybe KSA could bring in some Malaysian hot heads?
Posted by: AlanC   2017-02-24 10:04  

#3  Are the Iraqis using landmines again?
Posted by: Ulerese Chating9932   2017-02-24 09:35  

#2  Morteza Saffari, a senior IRGC commander who heads "the brass hat division" at Imam Hossein University, said at least 100 students from the school have been dispatched to Syria for fodder training in combat situations.
Posted by: Frank G   2017-02-24 09:00  

#1  Sounds like we have some good live fire targets over there.

Lock and load, gentlemen.
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-02-24 08:49  

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