Mayiar Haidar, Baladi News, Aleppo
Contradicting media statements that sparked large controversy across all Iranian quarters, were made on Wednesday by the military commander in Iran concerning Iran’s official involvement in fighting in Syria.
Ataollah Salehi, the third commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, has denied responsibility of sending troops into Syria, only days after another military official in the Iranian ground forces announced the dispatch of Brigade 65 Special Forces to Syria under the pretext of "fighting terrorism and defending sacred places".
Salehi said : "the army is not responsible for any advisory missions in Syria, as there is a specialized institution responsible for sending military advisors”, in reference to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The denial came after dozens of soldiers from the Brigade were killed by Syrian rebels in southern Aleppo countryside. Fars, Iran’s official news agency, interfered to refute the allegations of the Commander-in-chief, announcing the death of two members from Brigade 65 who had been killed in Syria without defining the city.
The news agency announced that Sadik Shaibak and Hussain Himmaty, members of the Brigade, were killed while "fighting terrorism in Syria".
Iranian Brigadier General Ali Arasteh, deputy chief liaison of the army's ground force, told the Iranian news agency "Tasnim" on the 4th of April : "We are sending commandos from army's Brigade 65 and other units to Syria as advisers" and added :“Troops of Brigade 23 of Combat Vehicles in the Iranian army are preparing to join Brigade 65 in Syria"
Observers on ground see this contradiction as a sign of Iran
confused policy toward the Syrian revolution, and the result of Tehran’s huge losses in Syria, especially after Iran’s Special Forces failed to achieve any gains on the ground following the intentional disappearance of the Russian air force.