Iran’s “Advisory” Casualties Grow; Disregarding Resolutions

As Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) ‘advisory’ casualties in Syria grow, reports indicate possible US ground troops in the country. On one hand the US has announced Iran will participate in the latest round of Syrian talks while an Iranian Guards general Salami, the deputy commander of the IRGC force announced, “We do not read the resolutions. Our duty is to expand our power and nobody can dictate to us. We work on resisting and battling world arrogance (a term that denotes the US in Iranian political jargon).”

Almost every day since October 8 a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has been reported to have been killed in Syria. Just yesterday (October 27^th), domestic news agencies such as Fars announced the death of yet another three members of the IRGC. Such news reports are always short and without any details; “Martyr Hamid-Reza Daitaghi from Isfahan, Jabar Araghi from Khuzestan and Pooya Izadi from Lanjan in Isfahan province were killed by Takfiri terrorists in their defense of Zeynab’s shrine in Syria.”

The news does not even specify where the soldiers died or the specific military group to which they belonged. Yesterday, domestic media also announced the death of a fourth Guards member from the force’s Kermanshah army. Khabar Online wrote that this officer was killed during an “advisory battle.”

In recent months, Iran’s diplomatic machinery has been advertising that Tehran only has an advisory presence in Syria. For example, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the deputy foreign minister for the Middle East, announced on Saturday, during the memorial ceremony for general Hossein Hamedani who was killed two weeks ago, that the Islamic republic has no “combatant forces” in Syria. Hamedani himself was a former Tehran IRGC commander (heading the Mohammad Rasol-Allah force). He was killed near the town of Halab and was the highest officer to have been killed in the last three years. Following the announcement of his death, a number of other deaths were sequentially announced by official news outlets.

The deaths of these officers come as Abdollahian has said, “We have military advisors in Iraq and Syria and they are there on the request of the Iraqi and Syrian governments.”

Abdollahian’s works of course mimic statements issued by senior IRGC officials and officers. For example, last Friday, speaking to reporters from Javan news agency general Ramezan Sharif confirmed the deaths of eight IRGC officers in Syria and also spoke of Iran’s growing military or advisory presence in the country. General Salami on the other hand used the words “Iranian forces present in Syria, when speaking to Fars news agency – a group under the control of the IRGC. He added that Iran had yet to use its stockpiled “advanced missiles.” Speaking about the conflict in Syria, he said, “The Syrian army needs military compliments such as a people’s para-military force (similar to the Iranian Basij), something that we have introduced into the operational defense system of Syria.”

He then said, “Our role in Syria has four levels: Policy, operational, tactical and technical.” Following these remarks, the foreign ministry announced that the advisory role in Syria would most likely be expanded.

Will the US be Sending Ground Troops to Syria?

While the presence of the IRGC forces in Syria is on the rise, the Washington Post has reported that American national security advisers have proposed to President Barack Obama that American ground forces be sent to the fronts in Syria and Iraq. Some small ground forces are already in Syria.

Iran to Participate in the Syrian Talks

News reports pointed to a meeting in Paris on Tuesday in which representatives from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, Germany, France, the US, Italy and Britain had taken part and discussed ways to end the Syrian conflict. No representative from Iran or Russia was present at that meeting. While another meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday with the presence of the same countries, Iran and Russia too are said to have been invited and would be participating. Iran’s Fars news agency reported that while this meeting has not yet been finalized, it appears that the Paris meeting was to coordinate the positions and views of the countries that oppose the Syrian government, prior to meeting with Russia and Iran. According to this report, US secretary of state John Kerry had said that Iran would have to play a role sometime in the talks about the transfer of power in Syria, adding that it had not yet been clarified when exactly would this take place and under what conditions.