Iran increases presence in Syria

Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah operatives aiding Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters now number in the hundreds

Ron Ben-Yishai
YNetNews.com
2/14/2012

Iran has significantly increased its involvement in Syria over the past few days, Ynet learned Monday.

The presence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah operatives assisting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s in his brutal crackdown of protesters now number in the high hundreds; while the Arab League said that it will not supply the rebels with arms unless the bloodshed comes to a halt.

The majority of Iranian and Hezbollah operatives in Syria supply Assad’s army with intelligence and train the Damascus forces on weapons’ maintenance and reconnaissance. A smaller group of operatives is involved in the actual fighting.

Tehran has also increased the financial assistance it lends Damascus. It also maintains regular flights to the Syrian capital – a practice Arab League members have suspended due to the escalating violence…

The article continues at YNetNews.com

H/T Weasel Zippers

RelatedSenate Push to Help Syria Brings Rubio, Boxer Together. A new bipartisan resolution calls on the president to give material and technical assistance to the Syrian opposition.

The Syrian uprising is a year old and bloodier than ever as tyrant Bashar al-Assad digs in even further and refuses to give in to the fate of fellow dictators in the Arab Spring.

With a death toll conservatively estimated at more than 6,000 Syrian civilians and defectors — including brave members of the Syrian armed forces who refused to open fire on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators — the global community has been seesawing between cries to do something to stop to the bloodshed and being stymied over how to stop the massacres.

Not surprisingly, that help won’t come from the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China proved yet again that those who oppress basic human rights and the rule of law happily jump into bed together and stay tight under the covers.

And as horrible tales of Syrian suffering continue to reach the world via social media and the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice is on a trip to Haiti…

Read the whole thing.

Also, Obama budget proposes $800 million in aid for “Arab Spring”

The White House announced plans on Monday to help “Arab Spring” countries swept by revolutions with more than $800 million in economic aid, while maintaining U.S. military aid to Egypt.

In his annual budget message to Congress, President Barack Obama asked that military aid to Egypt be kept at the level of recent years — $1.3 billion — despite a crisis triggered by an Egyptian probe targeting American democracy activists…

America’s New Hostage Crisis Takes Shape in Post-Mubarak Egypt …

 

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