Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi said that army has no responsibility in providing advisory supports to Syria, Fars news agency reported April 20.
There is an organization in Iran which manages the issue, he said, adding some volunteers from army have been dispatched to Syria under the responsibility of that organization.
"We are facing a large number of forces in the army which love to be sent to Syria frontline," Salehi said, adding army has never claimed that its elite forces namely the 65 Nohed Airborne Brigade is present there.
Earlier in April, Iranian media outlets quoted Brigadier-General Ali Arasteh, an Iranian Army commander, as saying that army has deployed a group of its commandos from the brigade in Syria to provide advisory support for President Bashar al-Assad's army in fight against terrorist groups.
Iranian media outlets reported Apr. 11 that Iran's Army for the first time lost its members in clashes in Syria.
A day later the Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Ahmad Reza Pourdastan confirmed the causalities, saying a number of Iranian army ground force members from various units, including the Special Forces known as the 65th Brigade, are in Syria for advisory mission.
Meanwhile Salehi said that some members of the Brigade 65 "maybe" are among the volunteer forces, who have been sent to Syria.
Iranian officials have constantly confirmed that the IRGC provides the Syrian army with advisory support in fight against the terrorist groups.
The Islamic Republic views the Syrian regime as its main strategic ally in the region, as well as a part of the "axis of resistance" against Israel.
Tehran has always expressed support for the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.