canada goose store Iran boosts military support in Syria to bolster Assad

canada goose coats LONDON/ANKARA (Reuters) As Syria war nears the start of its fourth year, Iran has stepped up support on the ground for President canadagoosesale.biz Bashar al Assad, providing elite teams to gather intelligence and train troops, sources with knowledge of military Canada Goose Jackets movements say.

A view shows damaged buildings in Deir al canada goose factory sale Zor, eastern uk canada goose Syria February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

This further backing from Canada Goose online Tehran, along with deliveries of munitions and equipment from Moscow, is helping to keep Assad in power at a time when neither his own forces nor opposition fighters have a decisive edge on the canada goose black friday sale battlefield.

buy canada goose jacket Assad forces have canada goose coats on sale failed to capitalize fully on advances they made last summer with the help of Iran, his major backer in the region, and the Hezbollah fighters that Tehran backs and which have provided important battlefield support for Assad. bombing raids following a deal under which he has agreed to give up his chemical weapons.

cheap Canada Goose Shi Iran has already spent billions of dollars propping up Assad in what has turned into a sectarian proxy war with Sunni Arab states. And while the presence of Iranian military personnel in Syria is not canada goose new, military experts believe Tehran has in recent months sent in more specialists to enable Assad to outlast canadian goose jacket his enemies at home and abroad.

canada goose Analysts believe this renewed canada goose uk outlet support means Assad felt no need to make concessions at currently deadlocked peace buy canada goose jacket talks in Geneva.

MILITARY SPECIALISTS Assad is now benefiting from the deployment by Tehran of hundreds more military specialists to Syria, according to Iranian sources familiar with deployments of military personnel, Syrian canada goose clearance opposition sources, and security experts.

Canada Goose Jackets These include senior commanders from the elite Quds Force, the external and secretive arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as IRGC members.

Canada Goose Outlet Their function is not to fight, but to direct and train Syrian forces and to assist in the gathering cheap Canada Goose of intelligence, according to sources in Iran and canada goose clearance sale outside.

canadian goose jacket An Iranian foreign ministry official said: always have said that we support our canada goose store Syrian brothers and respect their will. Iran has never got involved in Syria by providing arms or financially or by sending troops.

But a former senior Iranian official with close IRGC links canada goose uk shop said Iranian forces were active in Syria.

canada goose deals He said the Quds force was gathering intelligence in Syria, which Iran regarded as a top priority. He said a few hundred commanders from the Quds Force and the IRGC were in Syria, but they did not get involved directly in the fighting.

A recently retired senior IRGC commander said Iranian forces on the ground included some Arabic speakers. Canada Goose Parka He said top Quds force commanders numbered 60 to 70 at any given time.

canada goose coats on sale These men were tasked with advising and training Assad military Canada Goose sale and his commanders, he said. Revolutionary Guards directed the fighting on the instructions of the Quds Force commanders, he added.

Canada Goose sale The former IRGC commander said these personnel were also backed up by thousands of Iranian paramilitary Basij volunteer fighters as well as Arabic speakers including Shi from Iraq. The former Iranian official and a Syrian opposition source also put auxiliary forces in the thousands.

canada goose clearance sale The figures could not be independently verified from Syria, but the deaths Canada Goose Online of at least two IRGC commanders in Syria have been publicly reported. security officials said hundreds of Iranians were active in Syria, advising, training and in some cases commanding Syrian government forces. official said.

A report by Western intelligence agency obtained by Reuters said that while Assad forces had an advantage in the balance of fighting on the ground, buy canada goose jacket cheap at present they were to translate this advantage into a decisive victory The report said Assad dependence on Hezbollah and Iran was Canada Goose Coats On Sale increasing.

canada goose black friday sale the regime improved combat capabilities stands significant support from Hezbollah, Iran and Russia, while at the same time the rebels weaknesses are becoming cheap canada goose uk more pronounced, the canada goose uk black friday report said. pro Iran and pro Hezbollah) bloc.

Scott Lucas, of EA WorldView, a specialist website on Iran and Syria, said the evidence indicated hundreds of Iranian advisers and trainers were inside Syria at any one time.

are trying to work with the Syrians in ramping up the number of (Syrian) troops they uk canada goose outlet can put in the field and making sure those guys can hold the line as well as carry out certain offensive operations, he https://www.canadagoosesale.biz said.

ACROSS BORDERS Iranian and Syrian opposition sources said personnel could enter Syria through the border with Turkey since Iranians did not need visas to enter Turkey. Others come in across the Iraqi border, and more senior commanders fly in to Damascus.

buy canada goose jacket cheap A Turkish official said the number of Iranians crossing into Syria had increased in the last few months. Most had non Iranian passports.

A Syrian opposition source said in recent months that Iranian led forces had begun operating in coastal areas including Tartous and Latakia. They have local ID cards, wear Syrian military fatigues and work with the elite Syrian air force intelligence unit.

canada goose clearance The presence of units canada goose coats in coastal areas could not be independently corroborated. The Iranian sources declined to give details of where the forces were located.

Canada Goose Parka Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Middle East case officer with the CIA, said Iran Canada Goose Outlet sought to avoid getting embroiled in direct fighting.