Iran admits to elite troops in Syria "advising"

Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari holds a press conference in Tehran on September 16, 2012. / GettyImages

(CBS/AP) TEHRAN, Iran - The top commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard says the elite unit has high-level advisers in Lebanon and Syria but remains undecided on whether to send military reinforcements to help save Bashar Assad's regime.

"A number of members of the Qods force are present in Syria but this does not constitute a military presence," Iranian news agency ISNA quoted Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying at a news conference, according to Reuters. (Qods, also sometimes called Quds, is another name for the Revolutionary Guard.)

Jafari said Iran is only providing Assad with "intellectual and advisory help," according to Reuters.

Sunday's comments by Jafari were the first official remarks of their kind, and mark the clearest indication of Iran's direct assistance to its main Arab allies: Assad and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

It also suggests Tehran is wary about being drawn into a Middle East conflict if outside forces attack Assad, who is locked in a civil war with rebel forces.

Ex-ambassador to Israel: U.S. will go to war with Iran in 2013
Egypt hosts summit of new quartet on Syria, hoping to persuade Iran to change stance
More carnage in Syria amid pleas for peace

Jafari told reporters that Quds force members have been in Syria and Lebanon as advisers for a long time, but was not more specific.

He says decisions about whether to boost military aid to Syria if attacked would "depend on the circumstances."

This image made from a video released by the Baraa Brigades purports to show Free Syrian Army soldiers guarding a group of Iranians abducted in early August 2012 near Damascus, Syria.

/ YouTube

In early August, members of the Free Syrian Army abducted 48 Iranians, whom they claimed were members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. After first denying their military roles, Iran later said the hostages were "retired" military members on a pilgrimage.

A Free Syrian Army commander later told al-Jazeera that his brigade had "intelligence information" and "documents" showing that the group belonged to the Revolutionary Guards and had come to Syria to "serve the regime".

Iran has backed Syria's President Bashar al-Assad since the crisis began almost 18 months ago, and regards his rule as a key part of its axis of resistance against Israel and Sunni Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

[lloydbest1]

Iran should draw, as a lesson, from our experiences in Viet Nam and Iraq and step away from the situation.

Having said that, Iran's meddling in the internal affairs of another nation is but a mirror of the profounfly destructive influence and interference America has visited in virtually every other country on earth.

This didn't start with GWB's 2000 election campaign declaration that our foreign policy would be determined and directed by what is in America's best commercial/corporate interests but during his administration, that policy has been elevated almost to an art form. Mr. Obama has since continued in the same vein.

We need a new paradigm on how we conduct affairs with other countries.

Our own excesses do not excuse those of other countries but as a world leader (and we still are - like it or not) we will need to have the political courage to adjust our foreign policy to one which focuses on the target nation's best interest(s) rather than our own. To be a little more like FDR's "Good Neighbor" policies toward Latin America in the 30's and 40's, for instance, and a little less like Mr. Bush's (and so far; Obama's) "Kick their azzes 'n' steal their gas" policies of the early 21st Century......THEN lay down an unequivocal expectation of other countries to follow suit.

[sjc_1]

Syria, Iran, Russia...the cold war may be over but alliances still continue. Throw in Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and others to get a clearer picture. There is the west and others, as long as there is an "us and them" mentality it will continue.

[infantryman1968]

Iran admits to elite troops in Syria "advising"


LOL!


And they know the Jew haters in Amercia will do nothing about it.

[NB62]

Sooner or later whether it be next year or a few yrs down the road Iran is going to have to finally be delt with.This terrorist regime has held the Iranian people hostage since 1979 and has been responsible for countless terror attacks throughout the world and so eventually its going to have to be removed by military force and we all know its going to the the United States doing this dirty but necessary job.Mark my words everyone,this day is coming soon.

[Martha12345]

Just one look ......and you knew that this is a man you can trust.

[Bramdean]

So what that Iran has troops/advisers in Iran. We (USA) have troops/advisers in no less than 120 (One hundred and twenty) different countries!

How about CBS do an article about that!

[lifeduringwartime]

We need to fund the opposition forces in Iran, change from within- war will not work.

[Bramdean]

This country does not need to continue this hateful policy of interfering in the internal affairs of another country. It is illegal and against the UN charter, it is also immoral, dishonorable, duplicitous and hypocritical. Change in Iran must be conditioned by the Iranian masses.

[Wisdomwithage]

No foreign policy! No economic policy! No Jobs policy! No immigration policy! And now an effort to curtail free speech. This fella has really done a number on America.

The amateur is toast Nov. 6!

[Wisdomwithage]

No foreign policy! No economic policy! No Jobs policy! No immigration policy! And now an effort to curtail free speech. This fella has really done a number on America.

The amateur is toast Nov. 6!