PHOTO: Iran MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi with Syria’s President Assad in Damascus on Thursday
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- Claimed Photo of Another Prominent Revolutionary Guards Commander in Syria
- US: Iran Ballistic Missile Test Violates UN Sanctions
UPDATE 1845 GMT: Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denied that Tehran sent any ground troops to Syria.
An unnamed official said on Friday that the Islamic Republic has not altered its policy of assisting the Assad regime through the provision of military advice.
He said the reports of troop deployment were propaganda to cover up assistance by “the West and its allies to the Takfiri terrorist groups” challenging President Assad.
Iran has dismissed reports claiming that Tehran has dispatched ground troops to Syria.
An unnamed Iranian Foreign Ministry official said on Friday that Tehran has not altered its policy of helping and cooperating with Syria in the fight against terrorists through the provision of military advice to the Arab country’s forces, IRNA reported.
The official said the claim by foreign officials and media about the presence of Iranian troops on the ground in Syria is aimed at distorting realities about the events that unfold inside Syria in the battle against terrorist groups.
Iran’s advisory presence in Syria is aimed at helping the Arab country in the fight against terrorism, the official said.
The media propaganda to distort reports about Iran’s advisory presence in Syria, the official stated, is a blame game to cover up the financial, arms and intelligence assistance by the West and its allies to the Takfiri terrorist groups operating against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: As a top Iran MP visited President Assad on Thursday, leading officials in Tehran promised more military support to prop up the Syria’s leader.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament’s National Security Commission, said at the meeting with Assad, “We will continue our economic and political support as well as our military advice until the complete victory over terrorism and its supporters.”
Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan put out another signal from Tehran, hailing a new coordinating center in Baghdad with Russia, Syria, and Iraq, as a “joint action plan…for the complete elimination of the Islamic State”.
Dehghan hinted at the real objective — backing the regime-Russian offensive against Syrian rebels, with Moscow’s airstrikes covering ground assaults on four fronts — when he said “new developments in Syria are currently forming that, God willing, will prepare the groundwork for the complete elimination of takfiri groups”.
None of the officials confirmed claimed that “hundreds” of Iranian troops had been deployed near Syria’s largest city Aleppo in expectation of yet another regime-Russian front in the nine-day offensive. However, Alison Meuse of the US National Public Radio reported:
Source close to Iran tells me they're prepared to send ground troops to Syria "if requested" / several 100 "advisors" arrived in recent days
— Alison Meuse (@AliTahmizian) October 16, 2015
Pro-Assad accounts said on Friday morning that instead Iranian commanders were overseeing another 1,500 Iraqi and Pakistani militiamen backed by Tehran.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, while repeating “Iran has not sent soldiers to Syria”, said on Thursday that “a military advisory group with experience fighting terrorism has been dispatched” at the request of the Assad regime and that “our military advisors to the Syrian army and [Syrian] officials will help Russia if Moscow asks”.
Earlier week, photographs were circulated claiming to be of General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Qods Force, inside Syria.
See Syria Daily, Oct 15: Iranian Troops Reportedly Gathering Near Aleppo
On Wednesday, the Supreme Leader had pointed to an Iranian escalation when he praised General Hossein Hamedani, the overall commander of Iran’s effort in Syria who was killed last week near Aleppo by the Islamic State.
Two other Iranian commanders, both former leaders of Revolutionary Guards brigades, died in northern Syria earlier this week.
Claimed Photo of Another Prominent Revolutionary Guards Commander in Syria
Much attention has been given this week to photographs claiming to show the head of the Qods Force, General Qassem Soleimani, in Syria amid reports of an Iranian military build-up in the country.
Now Iran’s military outlets are featuring a picture which is purportedly of another famous Revolutionary Guards figure, General Saeed Qassemi, in the Syrian theater.
Qassemi led the elite “Mohammad Prophet of God Army”, which fought Israel in the Golan Heights in 1982. A well-known supporter of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he is known his fiery talks about politics.
US: Iran Ballistic Missile Test Violates UN Sanctions
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said on Friday that Iran’s recent ballistic missile test was “a clear violation” of UN sanctions.
Tehran proclaimed the introduction of a new medium-range missile in the test on Saturday.
Power said US officials had reviewed information and concluded that the missile was “inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon”, violating a UN Security Council resolution. She said the US is preparing a report to the council committee monitoring sanctions against Iran.
“The security council prohibition on Iran’s ballistic missile activities, as well as the arms embargo, remain in place and we will continue to press the security council for an appropriate response to Iran’s disregard for its international obligations,” Power asserted.
Iran maintains that the July 14 nuclear agreement with the 5+1 Powers, endorsed by the Iranian Parliament on Tuesday, does not restrict ballistic missile development.