Iran Revolutionary Guard

Satellite Images Show Iran Building Military Base in Syria

The Iranian army is constructing another base in Syria. Recently released satellite images show the base, being constructed by Quds forces, part of the Revolutionary Guards from Iran. The base is located at Jabal Ash Sharqi outside of Damascus.

Two large hangars are visible which the Israelis claim are being used to store missiles that can hit anywhere within Israel. A similar hangar was built in another Iranian base that stored missiles which the Israelis attacked earlier.

Last week, the New York Times reported the locations of dozens of bases in Syria operated by Iranian forces, including a map showing the location of a T4 airbase near Tadmor. Also in the map was the airport of Damascus, which Israel has reportedly attacked on multiple occasions.
Iranian officials openly claim that they are working to build an axis of resistance to Israel and the U.S. in the region. Iranian strategy is based on building ties with local forces who share the same goals.
At the Munich Security Conference last week, Netanyahu warned that Israel would act against Iran if needed. “We will act if necessary not just against Iran’s proxies but against Iran itself,” he said, holding up a piece of an Iranian drone Israel shot down after it infiltrated its territory.
“Iran continues to try to cross those red lines,” said the prime minister. “Last week its brazenness reached new heights, literally new heights. Israel will not allow the Iranian regime to put a noose of terror around our neck.” Netanyahu asked Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was sitting in the crowd: “Do you recognize it? You should, it’s yours. Don’t test us.”

Two weeks ago, the Iranians launched a drone into Israeli airspace that was shot down. It was followed by an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian base where the attack originated from. One Israeli F-16 was shot down as they hit the base with at least six missiles.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

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Iran Revolutionary Guards Say Unrest the Work of Foreign Enemies

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that the recent unrest, the most serious facing the regime since 2009 was the work foreign enemies and was put down the countries security forces. But the crisis has the government and security forces meeting to discuss this latest development.

There has been more than a week of unrest in Iran in which 22 people have died and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials. The protests spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working-class Iranians expressed their anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.
Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities have said the protests had subsided after the government intensified a crackdown by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.
“Iran’s revolutionary people along with tens of thousands of Basij forces, police and the Intelligence Ministry have broken down the chain (of unrest),” the Guards said in a statement on their Sepahnews website. The Guards said the unrest had been “created … by the United States, Britain, the Zionist regime (Israel), Saudi Arabia, the hypocrites (Mujahideen) and monarchists.”

In response, the government staged pro-regime rallies with thousands of government supporters chanting “Death to America”, Death to Israel”, “Death to Britain”, “Death to seditionists” in a backlash against the anti-government protests.

The anti-government protests have attracted the young, the student population, the working people as well as the educated middle-class which is problematic for the power brokers in Tehran.

There are about 90 students being held in prison and about 10 are unaccounted for. The official line is that many of the young people were “duped” into joining the anti-government protests and most were freed on bail. But according to the Revolutionary Guards, “but, the leaders of the unrest are held by the judiciary in prison.”

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

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Iran Protests Spread, Despite Army’s Declaration of Being Over

Despite the Army’s top commander’s claims to the contrary, the protests that have rocked Iran, continue in more than a dozen cities across the country as anti-government protesters fill the streets.

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari went so far to say to Iran’s official Fars News Agency that any people who took part in the protests were guilty of sedition.

“Now we can say that it is the day when the 1396 sedition ended,” the general said, in reference to the current year in the Persian calendar.
His remarks coincided with reports that elite IRGC troops had been deployed to at least three provinces to put down the rallies that have swept Iran since last week — featuring calls by some protesters for the ouster of the nation’s government.
There were also reports Wednesday that the IRGC action coincided with with a wave of counter-demonstrations that saw large pro-regime rallies held in several cities. The Associated Press reported that tens of thousands of government supporters were taking to the streets across the nation.
The government in Iran stage pro-government rallies in an attempt to calm the country amid country-wide protests (Fars News video clip)

The government tried its hand again with organizing pro-government protests in several cities as well. The Tehran government earlier tried to play off the protests by claiming that they were pro-government rallies in the Fars News.

Reports were leaking out via social media of many citizens being killed and wounded by government troops trying to quell the protests. There were over 20 citizens killed so far during the unrest.

To read the entire article from The Washington Times, click here:

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Five Iranians, Including Two Revolutionary Guard Commanders Killed in Syria

Iranian state-run media is reporting that five Iranian Shrine Defenders, including two high-ranking commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were killed in the fighting in Syria.

Iran’s state-run Fars news agency said that Khairollah Samadi, an IRGC commander in charge of a unit in Syria, was among the dead.

The name Shrine Defenders is what Tehran calls its fighters stationed in Syria. It claims that forces are to protect the Zeinab Shrine, a Shi’ite holy site near Damascus.
Since 2011, Iran has been a major backer of the Syrian regime in its war against anti-Assad groups across the country and it organized a multinational army that also allegedly includes fighters from Lebanon and Iraq.
Some Iranian government-sponsored media outlets have also released video footage that shows fighters from Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian-sponsored Iraqi Popular Mobilized Forces (PMF) helping the Syrian Army in their operation in the recently liberated Syrian town of Abu Kamal.
Some Iranian media outlets have released a video showing Iranian commander General Qassem Soleimani greeted by victorious soldiers in Abu Kamal.
“With the liberation of Abu Kamal, we secured the region from IS and other foreigners,” said Qasim Muslih, a commander with PMF. “No matter if you call it Shia Crescent, or whatever you want to name it, we have a fortified bloc here.”

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei said that their forces will join Syrian troops soon to capture the city of Raqqa, somehow ignoring the fact that the city is already largely cleared by US-led peshmerga troops, which the Assad government characterized as “illegal invaders.”

To read the entire article from Voice of America News, click here:

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Iran Warns US Against Further Sanctions, Terrorist Designation

In a bizarre turn of events that seem to be lost on the powers that be in Tehran, the Iranian government warned the United States that further sanctions against them or labeling Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization could result in attacks against US bases near the Iranian border.

In other words, the Iranians have basically stated that if the US labels them a terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Guard will act like terrorists and attack US bases. Their state-run news also threatened missile attacks to the limit of their range.

Iran warned the United States Sunday against imposing new sanctions, as well as against declaring Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
The head of the elite military unit also made a veiled threat to attack US military bases in the region.
The state-run IRNA news agency quoted General Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying: “If new sanctions go into effect, the country [US] should move its regional bases to a 2000-kilometer radius, the range of Iranian missiles.”
The US has military bases in countries neighboring Iran, about 300 miles (500 km) from Iran’s borders. They include sites in Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, and Afghanistan.

The Iranians also claim that they will label the US military a terrorist organization in a tit-for-tat move, which they said is akin to deeming the US the equivalent of the Islamic State. The latest war of words has to do with the nuclear deal the previous US administration struck with Iran. President Trump made a campaign promise to void the deal which essentially guarantees a nuclear-capable Iran.

Regardless of whether or not the US voids that deal, there is expected to be sharper sanctions against the Iranians due to their disregard of the nuclear deal’s limits on missile testing, cyber-attacks and their continued support of terrorism.

To read the entire article from The DW, click here:

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