On Sunday, I noticed an article in Fars News, the Revolutionary Guards’ outlet, about a speech by former Guards commander Hassan Hamedani, in which he claimed that 130,00 members of the Basij militia were ready to enter Syria.
I set aside the comments as a bit of posturing from a retired officer, bolstering Fars’ propaganda line of Iran’s firm support for the Assad regime.
But then a twist which made me think the comments might be more significant.
The article disappeared.
A few hours after publication, Hamedani’s remarks were no longer on the Fars site. Fortunately, because of Google Cache, they have not been lost.
So what might have been so sensitive that the Revolutionary Guards’ news agency had to censor itself?
Well, there’s the 130,000 Basij remark.
The Revolutionary Guards have said since September 2012 that — as well as providing intelligence, support for reconstruction, and advice to Damascus — they were helping train a 50,000-strong Syrian militia, the National Defense Forces.
But that’s far different from training Iranian militia and sending them into the conflict. The Guards, and the rest of the regime, have always denied that Iranian fighters were on the battlefield.
And that line has held. Despite video of Iranian officers training Syrian militia and leading small-scale operations and evidence of individual military staff and volunteers killed in the conflict, there has been no confirmation of widespread involvement by Tehran’s troops.
But now Hamedani was proclaiming on Sunday, “Today we fight in Syria for interests such as the Islamic Revolution. Our defense is to the extent of the Sacred Defense.”
He mentioned the training, and then came the mysterious remark that Iran is forming a “second Hezbollah” in Syria.
Does that mean Tehran is forming an all-Syrian organization, similar to its Lebanese counterpart fostered by Iran in the 1980s, or is there direct Iranian involvement beyond some officers supervising drills and field exercises?
Hamedani also cited Iran’s role in reconstruction, but indicated this was now on formal footing: “With consideration of the heavy damages the country of Syria and its people have suffered at the hands of terrorists, (a) committee has been formed so that the Syrian people know that the Iranian people will always be with you.”
Since Sunday, there has been no retrieval in Iran of the remarks from the memory hold.
So was Hamedani merely speaking for himself?
Or was he the front man for a semi-official statement from the Revolutionary Guards — one which went too far in setting out Iran’s military as well as political intentions in Syria?
(h/t Arash Karami and Golnaz Esfandiari for translations)