In a recent order, Ayatollah Khamenei has given the duty of stabilizing the Assad regime in Syria to Iran’s Quds forces.
According to the Turkish newspaper, Sabah, the commander of the Quds forces, Qassem Soleimani and 15,000 of his fighters have entered Syria with the mission of assisting in the suppression of the Syrian protestors. The Quds forces will act as a firewall for the Assad regime as the Syrian army is finding itself in a difficult situation where many officers are joining the opposition because they do not approve of the mass killings of the civilians, which so far has taken the lives of more than 5,000 people.
Other sources have indicated that Qassem Soleimani has a permanent presence in Syria’s war room overseeing and managing the attacks on the opposition.
Khamenei has said that Syria is the red line, adding that the fall of Assad will not be tolerated. Qassem Soleimani is urging Assad to enforce a complete lockdown of information to the outside world and to use a vicious clampdown to put an end to the uprising before the West can possibly get involved militarily.
The Iranian leader also has asked Hezbollah to join forces with the Quds forces to help the Assad regime. As reported back in July, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei delivered a threatening letter to President Obama ordering the U.S. to cease and desist pressuring the Syrian regime leadership, cautioning that Iran will retaliate against American forces in the region.
At the same time, the Revolutionary Guards, through its publication, Sobh’eh Sadegh, in an article titled, “Iran’s Serious Stance in the Face of Syrian Events,” warned that “Should Turkish officials insist on their contradictory behavior and if they continue on their present path, serious issues are sure to follow. We will be put in the position of having to choose between Turkey and Syria. Syria’s justification in defending herself along with mirroring ideological perceptions would sway Iran toward choosing Syria.”
If it is true that Iran considers Syria a red line it is most revealing. It reveals the extent to which Alawites are now fully considered simply a more mystic branch of Shia; being so hideously outnumbered in the Middle East, the Shia need all the numbers they can lasso.
More importantly, Syria enables a lifeline to the Shia Hizbollah in Lebanon which discomfits Israel. Iran realizes that with the West’s attention now turned away from Iraq and Afghanistan, a noose is being fitted for the Iranian regime. One can expect at least some kind of military dust up in the next couple of months as Iran is overplaying their hand. Ironically, the greater success Iran has in any small military encounter, the more their overmatched military forces will be made to eventually pay.
How far will the West let this go? How far will Russia/China go to support its Syrian puppet? Are we seeing the beginnings of WWIII? I’m sure President Obama is keeping his full attention on the situation… as well as schmoozing with his “one per-centers” campaign donors.
“Are we seeing the beginnings of WWIII?”
I, for one, think so.
How does Iran move 15000 men into Syria? Did they go through Iraq? By land, by sea, or by air? Seems like a formidable logistics problem for Iran unless they had help from Iraq.
Hmmm….The Syrian regime is already facing some mutiny and desertion….this influx of The Quds Force intended to stabilize the Syrian Army, could incite a more or less general mutiny by the Syrian Army…..a development with a predictable result….
Interesting times indeed….
Russia is sending an aircraft carrier task force to Syria?!? Good! That ought to throw a very large monkey wrench into any plans that our rouge government may have had about starting yet another illegal war…oops… I meant “kinetic military action”!
As of this date, the Russians only have one functional “Aircraft Carrier,” the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is based with the Northern Fleet. One wonders if they could actually sail it all the way to the Eastern Med. to begin with.
I’m sure these Quds are every bit as popular with the Syrians as King George’s Hessian mercenaries were with the Colonists. Syria is already in a full-blown civil war, the diplomats just don’t have the guts to admit it. Before it’s over, things are going to get real ugly.
This is a very positive development which will see the end of Iranian influence in the levant and throughout the Sunni world.
The Turks would not be happy about 15,000 armed Persians in Syria.
15,000 Iranian troops near the border of Israel!!!???!!
No alarms going off anywhere????
Repeat: there are 15,000 troops in Syria. Syria borders Israel. You know, Golan Heights. They share a border. And there are 15,000 Iranian troops there???
Is Iran planning to attack Israel?
Because the US and Isreal waited so long to attack the nuke facilities in Iran this gave Iran time to mass troops to attack Isreal if it tries to attack Iran.
Why did the US allow this to happen?
Sounds like a bit of DISINFORMATION, I’ll wait till we have more reliable sources than some (ex) CIA Operative and a bunch of DC Insiders attached to another tax exempt Neo-Con dot ORG.
15,000 IRG troops are not a threat to the existence of Israel, and I’m sure Israel would notice if they got anywhere near their border. And what are they equipped with? If it’s internal-security, it’s going to be rifles – no artillery, tanks, etc. And Israel has incredible air superiority – possibly the best thing that could happen (from Israel’s standpoint) is if Syria attacked right now. Then no-one could blame Israel for defending itself and at least going far enough into Syria to disrupt a lot of Hezbollah, and give Syrian anti-government forces refuge.
This isn’t WW3 – the Russian CV is a jump-jet carrier (think more like what the US Marines use). The US isn’t going to invade Syria, and the one Russian CV isn’t going to stop them.
Syria will fall apart, the Iranians will become hated by the Syrians – I think that sending Qods to Syria was a bad idea – nothing like home-made videos of Persian-Shia religious-fanatic troops bludgeoning Arab-Sunni civilians spreading through the middle east to get Iran and Hezbollah even more disliked.
– is coming.
It’s believed that the troops are being flown into Syria during a 2 week period. Not with land transportation.