Hundreds of Iranian Soldiers Bound for Syria: Sources

As Syrian jets strike Damascus suburbs
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 28, 2012 10:02 AM CDT
Hundreds of Iranian Soldiers Bound for Syria: Sources
This citizen journalism image taken Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian military helicopter falling after it was apparently hit during fighting in Damascus.   (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)

Egypt's new president, Mohamed Morsi, has joined the growing global calls for regime change in Syria. "Now is the time to stop this bloodshed and for the Syrian people to regain their full rights and for this regime that kills its people to disappear from the scene," he said. Not going along with the Assad-bashing: Iran, which the Wall Street Journal reports is sending commanders from its Revolutionary Guards Corps to help the regime, along with hundreds of soldiers, per corps sources. "Today we are involved in fighting every aspect of a war, a military one in Syria and a cultural one as well," a commander is reported to have told soldiers. The Journal couldn't verify the remark, but notes that, if true, it would be Iran's first public admission of military intervention there.

Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes swooped over Damascus suburbs yesterday, raining down rockets that activists say have killed at least 60 people. A video viewed by Reuters shows rockets hitting a six-story apartment building and people fleeing as it "collapsed like an accordion." The assault, in which ground troops were reported to have also summarily executed victims, follows on the heels of the massacre in neighboring Daraya. (More Syria stories.)

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