Iran promises to back Assad ‘until the end of the road’
Araz News via Telegraph: Hassan Rouhani says Tehran will remain at the side of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which relies on Iranian support to fill the financial and manpower gaps which have grown as it loses territory and support.
Iran has promised to back the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad “until the end of the road”, a show of support in the face of signifificant setbacks on the battlefield.
Syria’s army is facing intense pressure in the face of a resurgent rebel push towards its strongholds. Mr Assad’s regime now relies on Iranian support to fill the financial and manpower gaps which have grown as it loses territory and support.
“The Iranian nation and government will remain at the side of the Syrian nation and government until the end of the road,” Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying on Tuesday in a meeting with Syria’s parliament speaker in Tehran. He said Tehran had not forgotten its “moral obligations” to the Syrian regime.
The visit by speaker Mohammad al-Laham is the latest in a series of high-level visits between Damascus and Tehran, reflecting close coordination as the pressure on Mr Assad mounts.
Last week, government forces and allied Shia militia last week lost control of most of the northwestern province of Idlib to a range of insurgent factions including al Qaeda’s Syria wing.
Mr Rouhani’s comments comments come a day after Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the elite Quds unit inside Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, promised that the international community would be “surprised” by developments inside Syria in the coming days. Mr Soleimani had recently toured the northern region of Latakia, the coastal heartland of Mr Assad’s Alawite sect.
Hassan Rouhani shows him meeting with Syria’s parliament speaker Mohammed Jihad al-Laham
Iran has maintained a vital credit line to Mr Assad’s regime throughout Syria’s intractable four year war. It has also provided the equivalent of military life support, sending thousands of foreign fighters to join the fray.
Recruitment has increased dramatically as the regime digs in to defend its strongholds and push back the rebels. “They’re backing Assad and have poured in money, men, and resources,” said Phillip Smyth, an Adjunct Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
According to Mr Smyth’s research, around 10,000 Iraqis and between five and seven thousand fighters from Hezbollah have been deployed in Syria since the start of the war. As the losses increased, Iran shifted its focus to fighters from central Asia. The Middle Eastern superpower is now offering thousands of dollars to Shia mercenaries from Afghanistan and Pakistan to join the fight.
In Kabul, Shia community leaders say the recruitment drive is being coordinated by the city’s Iranian embassy, which provides visas to “hundreds” of Shia men each month willing to fight in Syria. In Pakistan, the recruitment takes place online – Urdu-language websites now offer fighters up to $3,000 each to join up.
Reports of central Asian recruitment date back to 2013, after it emerged that tens of Afghan Shia fighters had been given funerals inside Iran. Most originated from the country’s Afghan Hazara refugee population.
Video footage from the now-rebel held Idlib province has shown prisoners, apparently Hazaras, claiming they had been recruited to defend the Shia shrine to Sayeda Zeinab in Damascus and begging for their freedom.
“We want Bashar al-Assad to exchange us,” one teenager says. “Please, please exchange us.”
Shia power Iran has been a longtime supporter of Mr Assad and his father, and it has thrown increasing resources into Syria’s conflict as the sectarian dimension has increased.
In neighboring Iraq, Iran is also playing a key role in the fight against Islamic State (Isil) militants, sending military advisors to assist the Iraqi army, and backing the Shia militias embroiled in the fight to take back key cities.
By Louise Loveluck, Cairo
Reprinted from telegraph
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