Reuters last week conveyed reports from what the outlet described as multiple “sources with knowledge of military movements” assessing that Iran has boosted the logistical and material support it provides to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, dispatching elite intelligence-gathering teams and training personnel alongside the battlefield support provided by Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.
These include senior commanders from the elite Quds Force, the external and secretive arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as IRGC members. Their function is not to fight, but to direct and train Syrian forces and to assist in the gathering of intelligence, according to sources in Iran and outside.
A recently retired senior IRGC commander said Iranian forces on the ground included some Arabic speakers. He said top Quds force commanders numbered 60 to 70 at any given time. These men were tasked with advising and training Assad’s military and his commanders, he said. Revolutionary Guards directed the fighting on the instructions of the Quds Force commanders, he added. The former IRGC commander said these personnel were also backed up by thousands of Iranian paramilitary Basij volunteer fighters as well as Arabic speakers including Shi’ites from Iraq. The former Iranian official and a Syrian opposition source also put auxiliary forces in the thousands.
A Turkish official cited by the outlet noted that the tempo of Iranian personnel operating in Syria has increased in recent months, and Reuters noted that many of them stream in from across the Turkish and Iraqi borders. Reuters also cited risk consultant Torbjorn Soltvedt describing Iran’s role in Syria as “constitut[ing] a lifeline for the regime,” and noting that “the involvement of Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel and Shiite militias such as Hezbollah remains crucial to the Syrian regime’s war effort.” The White House for its part has long maintained that Iran can be coaxed to play a positive role in dampening the violence in Syria, with Secretary of State John Kerry seeking to integrate Tehran into the recent round of peace talks and President Barack Obama describing “work” on Iran and Russia as “our best chance of seeing a decent outcome” in Syria.
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