The Daily Telegraph reports on US officials'' belief of Iranian involvement in the brutal repression of anti-regime protestors in Syria:
Iran is secretly aiding Syria’s repression of anti-government protests by providing anti-riot gear and assistance in blocking protesters’ use of internet, US officials have warned.
As part of an attempt its mission to spread its influence across the Middle East, Tehran is also examining ways of helping Shia populations in Bahrain and Yemen rising up against their rulers.
“We believe that Iran is materially assisting the Syrian government in its efforts to suppress their own people,” an Obama administration official told the Wall Street Journal.
Assistance has included equipment and technical advice on blocking and monitoring communication between dissidents, and drew on the Iranian authorities’ own experience of putting down an uprising that followed the June 2009 disputed election.
Opposition groups inside Iran claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had deployed 10,000 troops inside Syria to protect the Assad regime:
The Reform Party of Syria said Iran has deployed its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria to bolster Syria’s defense, Middle East Newsline reported. The Washington-based opposition group said the IRGC contingent in Syria contains 10,000 troops, with headquarters in the northern province of Homs.
“In essence, the IRGC now occupies Syria and has become its de facto ruler,” RPS spokesman Farid Ghadry said. “Syria has become the 32nd province of Iran.”
The Iranian funded terrorist organization Hezbollah released a statement stating that Hariri’s policies are part of a ‘US scheme aimed at sowing the seeds of discord’ among regional countries:
“Such stances are in line with apparent efforts aimed at diverting public attention from US meddling in the internal affairs of regional countries, diminishing the people’s desire for freedom and liberation from US hegemony, and diverting [attention] from Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
Tehran is desperate to paint the Arab people’s desire for self-determination as the product of imperialist US-Israeli meddling. The Iranian-funded Press TV, regarded as the mouth-piece of the regime, attempted to create a story by highlighting Obama’s apparent ‘denial’ of US involvement with protests in the region:
“President Barack Obama on Monday expressed support for the protesters in Iran and denied that the United States or other foreign countries had anything to do with the unrest.”
The Iranian government itself has stated that the West is working to undermine Assad’s “resistance”-supporting government, the Daily Star reported earlier this week:
At his weekly news conference, the Iranian regime’s spokesperson said that the Syrian protests are a result of foreign interference.
The spokesperson went on to blame “Americans and Zionists” for partaking in the “mischievous act” of inciting anti-government sentiment among Syrians, the Daily Starreported, adding “no one should be fooled by this trick that Americans are playing.
An alarming number of figures in the West have putatively supported the protests in North Africa, but have noticeably failed to show any support for the Syrian and Iranian people’s quest for freedom.George Galloway, the infamous defender of the Iranian regime, has shown a similarly callous admiration for Assad’s despotic rule:
“For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs, and that’s why I’m proud to be here.”
Iran is one of the most dangerous obstacles to stability, peace and prosperity in the Middle East. The regime is working hard to destroy the very aspirations for freedom that the Syrian and other Arab people demonstrate for so vividly. This fact must be recognized by all, and acted upon with greater vehemence.
Here in Europe, we cannot just consume liberty; we must defend it as well. Otherwise Iran, Syria and their proxy group Hezbollah will reap even greater havoc in a region already plagued with despotism.