Report: Hizbullah, Revolutionary Guards Training Syrian Soldiers
Hizbullah fighters and members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards are training Syrian troops to spearhead an offensive against rebel-held areas in Aleppo in Syria's north, UK's Sunday Times reported.
UK's The Independent also said Sunday that Iran has decided to send a first contingent of 4,000 Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar Assad’s forces against the rebels.
The reports came only a few days after the U.S. decided to send arms to the Syrian opposition.
The Obama administration announced late on Thursday that it had reviewed intelligence reports and concluded that regime forces had used banned weapons, including sarin, in attacks that killed up to 150 people.
U.S. officials refused to rule out moving towards arming rebels, and said Washington would provide backing to the rebel Syrian Military Council.
The New York Times cited U.S. officials as saying shipments to the rebels would include small arms and ammunition and anti-tank weapons, but not anti-aircraft weapons.
The Wall Street Journal said U.S. military proposals also include a limited no-fly zone over rebel training camps that could stretch up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) into Syria from neighboring Jordan.
But incoming U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice acknowledged there are "downsides and limitations" to imposing a no-fly zone.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned for the first time Saturday that chances for a political settlement in Syria could be undermined by the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons and the role of Hizbullah in the war.
Kerry stressed that "the use of chemical weapons and increasing involvement of Hizbullah demonstrates the regime's lack of commitment to negotiations and threatens to put a political settlement out of reach," the statement added.
16 June 2013, 15:34
35
They're teaching them to terrorize local kids and women, and men.... Before raping their dead bodies.
16 June 2013, 15:50
00
So what?????
cia, mi6 and french & turkey intelligence are training & arming FSA from the beginning of the crisis.
This is all about containing Iran which is anti zionist.
16 June 2013, 16:19
33
here the sequence of events.
1-HA takes qseir with assad the dog.
2- assad the dog becomes stronger and more arrogant. he wants to use lebanon's oil to "fight israel"!!!!!!!!!!!
3-The US and Russia who want a negotiated settlement that would oust both assad and nosra are not happy to see Assad the dog becoming too strong
4-The US tells its vassal king Abdallah: OK, go ahead, you can provide extra weaponry to your guys in syria. For its public consumption, Obama invents the excuse of sarin gas (which has been used 3 months ago)
5-king abdallah cuts short his vacation in morocco to personaly handle this affair, and starts planning on sending light anti aircraft missiles to syria's rebels.
6- expect new developments in aleppo's battle.
16 June 2013, 16:57
22
does someone need to be known to express his opinion ?
and talking a bout freedom ! how ironic !
16 June 2013, 18:42
12
Syria is the new Afghanistan or Vietnam, unfortunately.
I feel sorry for the Syrian people, 95% of which have nothing to do with all this and want to just live their lives.
16 June 2013, 19:26
11
While it is premature to celebrate the US administrations decision to provide 'military support" to the Syrian revolutionaries, it definitely is a major qualitative move by President Obama. He is a timid president and not exactly an inspiring leader but he also is a deliberate and shrewd calculator who has shown that he is not loath to grab the opportunity if and when it presented itself like when he ordered the Bin Laden raid.
16 June 2013, 19:26
11
To be sure, all indications up to now pointed to Obama wanting to forget the Syrian mess and sweep it under the carpet. However, he finally concluded that it is not going to go away. More importantly, that he has heretofore underestimated the importance to the US of engaging and handling the Syrian revolution. That he appointed Susan Rice as his National Security Adviser attests to the change outlined above. Does that mean that he is now ready to start sending SA missiles to the revolutionaries? Of course not, at least not yet. What it does mean is that he finally realized that Russia and Iran are playing hardball and are playing for keeps and that if he does not ante up the US has no chance of winning anything.
16 June 2013, 19:27
01
Having made the move to arm the revolutionaries, Obama is now looking to gauge Russia's reaction. So far it appears the Russians did not expect Obama to take the step he did and they feel somewhat apprehensive judging by the latest remarks made by Putin and Lavrov. Obama's task is to make sure and convince the Russians that he will not back down unless he gets major concessions. That is why it is premature to celebrate as yet. One silver lining in all of this is that while Obama is indeed too timid for a leader, previous experience indicates that when he does finally move he does so with the conviction that he will go all the way. Whether he actually does stay the course in this instance remains to be seen but no one should underestimate the seriousness of the move Obama has made.
16 June 2013, 19:35
31
nice analysis Lebanonfirst
but, and there are buts:
- the aim of Obama and putin is to keep both sides killing each other to drain both.
- the SA missiles already arrived to the FSA from KSA via Jordan with a green light from Obama.
- I expect at some point after equilibrium is restored that they will stop the flow of weapons again.
meanwhile, more hizbushaitan fighters will fall in Syria, and their parents will receive them in body bags.
I believe this is the realistic flow of events to expect.....
16 June 2013, 20:11
00
You mean to say it is the Sunni from all around the world who are fighting on foreign soil to kill, eat and rape syrians people.FSA/NURSA etc.
Sunni whabbist salafist exposedddddd. You fool no one except idiots like you.
16 June 2013, 20:48
22
Train all you want.. You took the bait and entered the quagmire, this is the beginning of the end. None expected the way PLO ended in the 80s, and none expected a Syrian revolution either.
17 June 2013, 00:32
00
The Hizb and iran has been training and advising the assad regime forces for a long time now. This is old news.
17 June 2013, 06:10
20
So the USA and KSA have decided to arm the rebels. All this time I thought those dress and sandal wearing wahabies were getting their weapons from toys are us.
17 June 2013, 06:52
01
Well it seems rather that USA and Saudi have finally agreed on supplying the rebels (not the salafists which are rather supported by Qatar) with qualitative weaponry such as anti tank missiles at the least and maybe anti airplane missiles. On Utube there are 3 different videos of T72 tanks being destroyed last week by wired controlled missiles. Yesterday 70 officers have deserted the regime army with 6 generals at their head. Will this mean that there is a significative change happening? We should hope so. This would help prop up the true rebellion and drive back the salfist role in the Syrian revelation. This also would mean the start of the end of the wilayet el faquif expansion in Syria and Lebanon. Will this happen or is it just power balancing in order to perpetuate the conflict?
