Iranian Revolutionary Guards Chief Vows That Upcoming Developments in Syria Will Soon 'Surprise' the World

Iran's military mastermind promises a 'surprise' in Syria

June 2, 2015

Now Lebanon - Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani has vowed that upcoming developments in Syria will soon “surprise” the world, Al-Quds al-Arabi reported.

“The world will be surprised by what we and the Syrian military leadership are preparing for the coming days,” the state Islamic Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) quoted him as saying, according to the London-based daily. 

The Quds Force commander’s comment comes after a recent visit to Syria where he toured the Latakia region, which has come under threat from rebels after they seized the nearby Idlib province last week following months of sweeping victories against the regime. 

Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Soleimani “began his trip in Jourin, which lies on the contact point with the opposition forces that form the Army of Conquest.”

The town, which lies a little over 40 kilometers east of Latakia, is not far from rebel lines in the Al-Ghab Plain, where regime forces have begun to bolster defense lines ahead of an expected insurgent attack. 

A number of pro-regime outlets reported on Soleimani’s trip over the weekend, including pro-Hezbollah Mulkak news which said the Iranian military commander met with the Syrian army’s chief of staff as well as top field commanders and Hezbollah officials during his secret visit. 

“An agreement was reached [during the meetings] that will be translated onto the [battlefield],” the outlet claimed.

Meanwhile, a defected National Defense Force militiaman told Al-Quds al-Arabi that Soleimani’s trip aimed to formalize the “entry of Iranian officers to supervise and aid the battles in coastal Syria for the first time since the outbreak of Syrian uprising.”

“Prior aid was limited to only logistical aid,” the unnamed source said.

Reuters

Alawite concerns

Soleimani’s visit to the Latakia region comes amid heightened concerns in the Alawite-populated coastal enclave following regime defeats in Idlib and other regions of the war-torn country.
As regime forces come under increasing strain amid manpower shortages, Damascus has moved to mobilize its Alawite base. 

Over the weekend, the government moved to form a new Coastal Shield Brigade that would recruit Latakia Province residents who have avoided compulsory military service.

A defected army officer from the region told Al-Jazeera Sunday that the regime was “working to gather members” for the Coastal Shield Brigade in Latakia through an “arrest campaign that [targets] all young men in the city, born after 1973.”

 “The number of young men arrested in one week reached 1,000. They were pulled out of the city’s mosques and [off] the streets.” 

Other than arresting young Alawite men avoiding conscription, the Syrian regime has sought to recruit women and Baath Party employees, according to recent reports in anti-Damascus news outlets. 

A change in strategy?

Soleimani’s promise of upcoming surprises was made as an influential Iranian militant group thought to be close to the country’s rulers has called for tens of thousands of infantrymen to be sent to Syria, according to a report by Saudi-owned news channel Al-Arabiya. 

“Iran must send 50,000 soldiers from the infantry force to Syria to manage the war there and prevent the fall of the Assad regime, which has begun to collapse recently,” Al-Arabiya reported, citing a study on Iran’s management of the war in Syria conducted by Ansar e-Hezbollah.

According to the cited study, the mission of the 50,000 soldiers would be to ensure Syria’s coastal region is not cut off from Damascus.

“Iran must preserve the vital corridor [connecting] Damascus to Latakia, Tartous and the Lebanese border.”

“[Any] delay by Iran in [implementing] this pre-emptive action will cause the fall of Damascus airport, which in turn [means] the severing of the essential communication and supply line Iran [uses] to assist the Syrian regime.

Ansar e-Hezbollah, which was formally created in 1992, serves as a plain-clothed attack guard used by the Iranian government to target opponents of the clerical ruling system.

Although not an official part of Iran’s security services, the paramilitary group receives state training and is thought to be close to top circles of the country’s authorities.
Ansar e-Hezbollah’s study comes as the Syrian government has faced serious military setbacks, losing the Idlib province last week following months of sweeping rebel advances, as well as the desert town of Palmyra, which was stormed by ISIS on May 20.

Reports have emerged that the regime is moving toward considering a change in strategy to withdraw its forces to protect core government-held areas stretching from Syria’s coast through Homs down to Damascus. 

The new policy would serve as a reversal of Assad’s strategy of deploying the army in all areas of Syria, including in bases and other surrounded regime-controlled areas in the east and north of the country, where ISIS now controls 50% of Syria’s territory.