Denials Over Military Intervention And Responses Against “Hated Arabs”

As the crisis in Syria turns more sour and the announcement of a possible intervention by Iran in the war, the minister of defense of the Islamic republic yesterday while denying the issue of intervening in Syria, once again labeled Bashar Assad’s opponents as terrorists. At the same time however, the foreign minister once again aired his proposal to act as the mediator between the Syrian “protestors” and the Baath regime in Damascus. These remarks follow the warning that the deputy Basij commander issued a few days ago in which he said that if “Syria’s friends” intervened in the conflict, a devastating blow would be inflicted on “hated Arabs.” By Syria’s friends, he of course has Iran in mind.

As violence in Damascus escalates by the week, it is said that Iran’s Ghods Force is already active in support of Assad’s regime. General Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday however told reporters, “This is not the case and we believe that the Syrian government and army have the ability to deal with the terrorists.”

While Vahidi did not elaborate whether the Islamic republic of Iran would directly intervene if the Syrian regime failed in this task. It should be noted that just two months ago the deputy commander in chief of the Ghods Force had publicly expressly confirmed that the Islamic republic had been “physically” present in the crackdown of Syrian opponents.

Salehi Reiterates Mediation

Bashar Assad’s opponents are called “terrorists” by officials of the Islamic republic even as the country’s foreign minister had earlier extended an invitation to the opponents to come to Tehran to resolve the political crisis in Damascus. Salehi repeated his call yesterday, a position that conflicts with those of other cabinet ministers of Ahmadinejad’s administration, specifically the minister of defense. Salehi said, “We have been in contact with the adversaries for over a year and have held discussions with them and even announced our readiness to mediate between them and the government of Syria to help the country pass through its current situation and clashes. Conditions in Syria are of course moving towards peace.”

The minister of defense however did not mention the possibility of Tehran’s mediation and focused on his theme that “Iran had no military presence in Syria.”

Better Military Morale After the Bombing in Syria

In pursuit of his efforts to provide moral support to the Syrian Baath regime, Salehi yesterday made a reference to the bombing that took place in Damascus 7 days ago and said, “The moral of the Syrian military” had improved after the bombing. According to him, “After the explosion in Syria, we noticed that some individuals thought that a vacuum may be created in the Syria regime. But this did not happen and those who engaged in such activities did not succeed in their goals. Today, the Syrian military is in better morale in its fight against individuals who have come from outside the country and are battling the government.”

In a suicide operation, the Syrian opposition succeeded in killing a presidential deputy, the minister of defense and the head of the national security organization of the Syrian regime. There were also rumors that Ghasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Ghods Force was also killed in the bombing. Yesterday however, photographs were published in Iran to show that Soleimani was talking to the supreme leader in the presence of other military and government officials. Ayatollah Khamenei had earlier called the popular uprising in Syria to be a “strayed” or diverted action but in his talk on Tuesday while he did touch on developments around the world and the Middle East, he did not make any reference to Syria.

It is noteworthy that just 24 hours before the minister of defense of the Islamic regime denied that the Tehran was involved militarily in the Syrian crisis, the deputy Basij para-military commander whose force operates under the command of the Revolutionary Guards had made remarks that actually strengthened the possibility of a military role in the crisis by the Islamic republic when he said, “The enemy cannot remove the regime in Syria as people of that country and friends would not let that happen.”

While Jazaeri did not elaborate who he believed were Syria’s “friends,” international specialists say the axis of countries that constitute Assad’s friends are the Islamic republic of Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Russia. While Russia has issued warnings against foreign military intervention in Syria it has not said whether it will respond should NATO make such an intervention.

Still, Jazaeri did threaten that “None of Syria’s friends and the large resistance front had as of yet entered the field. Should this happen, decisive strikes would be inflicted on the enemy front, particularly the hated Arabs.”

Since last winter, the Islamic republic has taken a confrontational verbal attitude towards the southern Persian Gulf littoral states and “hated Arabs” is the strongest term used by the military officers in Tehran against the southern neighbors.

In his remarks, Jazaeri asserted that “Syrian territory would be soon purged of the enemy and then will come the time for the resistance to deal with each of Syria’s enemies.”

In a related development, Iran’s Fars news agency that is closely affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards has started a special column on “Developments in Syria” which is updated more regularly than the other sections of its website. Yesterday the site carried a story regarding the Revolutionary Guards’ initial training in missile usage and wrote that members of the force received their ever first missile training in Syria. According to the website, in response to Iraq missile attack on Iranian cities during the 8-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the most important problem for the Guard commanders was hot to purchase missiles and provide the necessary training for them. “During the war years, on the basis of an agreed that we had reached with one of the Arab countries, we were to receive missiles but training our forces to use them was not possible by that country and it was agreed that the training would be provided in Syria,” the site wrote.