As Iran Buries General, Syria Rebels Say He Was Killed in Israeli Strike
Source: Wall Street Journal
BEIRUT—A top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed in Syria and buried in Iran on Friday, actually died in Israel's attack on a Syrian military compound in late January, according to a faction of Syrian rebels.
Iran reported Wednesday that Gen. Hassan Shateri—a senior commander of the Quds Force, an elite international unit of the Revolutionary Guard—was killed the previous day in Syria on his way from Damascus to Beirut.
But a military council of Syrian rebels disputed that account Friday, saying Gen. Shateri had been killed on Jan. 30, when Israel attacked a convoy and military facility in Jamaraya, Syria, near the border with Lebanon. Gen. Shateri was there supervising a transfer of heavy weapons to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant and political group, said Fahd al-Mesri, the Paris-based spokesman for the Joint Command, a council that links some secular-minded Syrian rebels.
The group's account couldn't be corroborated by other Syrian rebels. The newly organized Supreme Military Council—made up of senior Syrian defectors and backed by the West—has no information on the incident, said its chief of staff, Salim Idriss.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324432004578306381061380040.html
So...the Iranian version of events is in doubt.
But Israeli involvement is being mentioned.
It gets pretty murky in a civil war with multiple proxies.
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Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)"...Regardless, any regional perception of Israel's involvement underscores how the country is increasingly seen as a player in Syria's uprising, one willing to take unilateral action if it perceives its interests and security are compromised.
Speaking early this month at a security conference in Germany, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the Jan. 30 attack is "another proof that when we say something we mean it. We say that we don't think it should be allowable to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon to Hezbollah from Syria when [President Bashar al-] Assad falls."
Any Israeli role would be a double-edged sword for Syria's opposition. While these fighters would welcome foreign military intervention that outpowers the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, such assistance also places them at risk being labeled agents of Israel or the West..."
leveymg
(36,418 posts)This civil war will now assuredly go on for decades, as has the one in Lebanon.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)The Lebanese Civil War was like a micro-version of what Syria is well into now.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)And, it won't be free of wider, worsening consequences for all parties.
