Human rights activists in Iran report that internal security forces in Khosestan Province have arrested Sunni Arabs in various cities, including Ahvaz, in the run up to the Eid al-Fitr holiday (August 18-19). According to reports, 19 members of the Sunni Arab minority have arrested since the wave began several days ago.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
The photograph published by the al-Assad regime’s official news agency “SANA”, depicting the meeting between Bashar al-Assad and the Supreme Leader of Iran’s envoy, Saeed Jalili, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, sums up the political situation in Syria today. It confirms that the tyrant of Damascus is now fully under the guardianship of Iran, specifically within the cloak of the Supreme Leader!
The photograph in question, printed on the front page of Asharq al-Awsat yesterday, shows Bashar al-Assad sitting in a chair with Jalili to his right, whilst all other attendees in the meeting are from the Iranian side. The photograph does not show Walid Moallem, Bouthaina Shaaban, not even Faisal Mekdad or Jihad al-Maqdisi. According to the photograph, to al-Assad’s right and to his left, everyone in attendance is Iranian. Meanwhile, on the same day, SANA published another photograph of a separate meeting Jalili held with Walid Moallem and a team from al-Assad’s foreign ministry. This in itself is an indication that al-Assad is now fully under Iranian guardianship, and this was confirmed by Tehran through Jalili’s statements announcing that Iran stands by al-Assad, and Tehran will not accept the breakup of the so-called axis of resistance. The custom in all al-Assad’s meetings, and particularly since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, is for the guest visitor to sit on the Syrian President’s right, with his accompanying delegation alongside him, while members of the Syrian government sit on the left of al-Assad, but this was not the case in the meeting between al-Assad and Khamenei’s envoy Jalili. Hence the Syrians today are not only fighting the tyrant of Damascus, they are also fighting Iran, which wants to impose al-Assad upon them by the force of arms!
The photograph of the al-Assad-Jalili meeting also indicates that Iran – more than ever – has become convinced that al-Assad’s days are numbered, something that was confirmed by the defection of Prime Minister Riyad Hijab. Therefore, Tehran now intends to protect al-Assad, who has become a personal cause in the hands of the Supreme Leader. This means that al-Assad is like Nuri al-Maliki and Hassan Nasrallah, but will this ensure the survival of the Syrian President? Of course not. Iran’s public defense of al-Assad, in the manner that can be seen from Jalili’s meeting with the Syrian President, confirms that the Syrians today are facing a sectarian battle being fought against them by Tehran. This will only reveal the hypocrisy and sectarian nature of the al-Assad and Iranian regimes alike, just like it will also remove the last fig leaf from Iran’s duplicity in our region.
Hence the photograph of the meeting between al-Assad and Jalili is one of the most prominent images that will remain in the mind of the Syrian rebels, the Arab region, and the international community. The picture has become clear now in Syria, where Iran is intervening – at the level of its Supreme Leader – to help the collapsing regime, and provide it with all the assistance it needs to kill unarmed civilians, amid international reluctance to arm the Syrian rebels.
The blatant Iranian interference in Syria shows that what is happening there is a purely Syrian revolution, carried out by the people of the country themselves, and not with external support as alleged by the al-Assad regime and Tehran. Iran sent Jalili to meet with the Syrian President in what may be a farewell kiss, and we will find out if this is the case very soon, for every day is full of surprises.
Source: Asharq Alawsat
Stout refutation of reported disagreements over the military option against Iran’s nuclear program between the US and Israel, and himself and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, took up most of a long radio interview given by Defense Minister Ehud Barak Thursday, Aug. 9. He explained that US and Israeli intelligence essentially see eye to eye on this matter and so do he and the prime minister.
Barak referred to the new US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran as confirming that both capitals understand that not much time is left for making decision on whether or not to go on the offensive against Iran’s nuclear facilities and when, because, he said, “a nuclear Iran is taking shape right before our eyes.”
Defense Minister Barak’s key remark was this: “I am aware of an American intelligence finding (not the new National Intelligence Estimate) that brings American intelligence assessments [of the current state of the Iranian nuclear program] very close to ours. This makes the Iranian question [i.e., the issue of the Iranian nuclear program and a possible military operation against it] extremely urgent,” he said without further explanation.
Barak disclosed that the US and Israel have been essentially of one mind for many months in their estimates of Iranian nuclear progress and the factors holding Tehran back from starting to build a nuclear bomb. All options therefore remain on the table, he stressed.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources add: American-Israeli talks about a military operation against Iran wound up months ago in early 2012. The administration was made aware that notwithstanding President Barack Obama’s objections, Israel would soon go into action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
This presumption has been adopted as their working hypothesis by the top US command echelons, from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and down to the head of the US Central Command, Gen. James Mattis, who has both Israel and Iran in his jurisdiction.
Barak stressed that he and the prime minister are in total harmony on this issue. “What we (the prime minister and I, and the Americans) understand is that there is not much time left for deciding [about an attack on Iran]”
He referred in answer to a question to the comment by former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy made last week: “if I were an Iranian, I would be very worried in the next twelve weeks.”
To this, Barak said “There is some basis to what Halevy said.” He added: “We will soon have to make some difficult decisions.”
As to the public disputes over the media on the wisdom of attacking Iran, the defense minister said some of the debates and public disclosures not only harm Israel’s security but actually aid Tehran.
The price of allowing Iran to attain a nuclear weapon will be much greater than the cost of an attack. It is already happening, said the Israeli minister. “And we must take into account the dangers and the very steep price in human life and in resources, if Iran goes nuclear. First, we must consider the outcome of first Saudi Arabia, then Turkey, and then the New Egypt becoming nuclear powers in their turn.”
Asked about an unattributed report Thursday that Saudi Arabia had sent a message to the Obama administration threatening to intercept any Israeli bomber planes using its air space to strike Iran, Barak replied he was not familiar with any such message. But, he said, Saudi Arabia is a sovereign state and makes its own decisions like any other country.
He went on to warn that another consequence of Iran’s nuclearization would be the strengthening of terrorist elements in the region, such as Tehran’s proxy, the Lebanese Hizballah.
At the same time, Barak also said: It’s quite possible that we may have to deal with Hizballah anyway.”
This was taken by DEBKAfile’s sources as suggesting that Hizballah is a rising menace – both because of its support for Bashar Assad in the civil war and for performing Iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks on Israelis in different parts of the world.
In discussing the situation in Egypt and Sinai-based jihadist terror, Defense Minister Barak asserted his confidence that Egypt is capable of dealing with it. “But I can’t say whether it has the will to do so,” he added.
For more than a year since Mubarak’s overthrow, “Israel has been readjusting its military and intelligence resources in the areas abutting Egypt and Sinai,” he said. “We have deployed an Iron Dome missile interceptor battery near Eilat in case it becomes necessary in that sector.”
Barak did not elaborate upon what he expects to happen in the Eilat sector, which is the southernmost point on the Israeli map, or against whom the missile defense system was deployed.
He did offer a prediction on Syria, estimating that quite soon “we would see Syrian President Bashar Assad hunkering down with his army in a fortified Alawite enclave” encompassing the Syrian coast and the Alawite Mountains.
“The longer the war in Syria drags on,” he said, “the greater the prospects of total chaos.”
The defense minister underlined the importance of attempts to renew peace negotiations with the Palestinians as quickly as possible. He cited the growing strength of Hamas and its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and in other Arab countries as lending urgency to the revival of the peace process.
“On this issue, time is not on our side,” he said. “But if progress proves evasive, both of us [Israel and the Palestinians] may be faced with having to perform certain mutually-agreed unilateral measures.”
Source: Debka
Security forces in Iran’s Khuzestan Province have arrested nineteen Iranians from the Sunni Arab minority, a human rights source reported on Tuesday.
According to the Human Rights Activists news agency, at least nineteen Iranians of Sunni Arab origin have been detained in various cities in the country’s Khuzestan Province.
The group said that it was common practice for the security forces to round up citizens with Sunni Arab backgrounds ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
In February, Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, a top advisor to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, condemned the violent clampdowns in the province.
“The security, territorial integrity, independence and sustainable development of the country can only be realised with the participation of all Iranian citizens irrespective of their gender, language, ethnicity, religion or political leaning, and in accordance with accepted international human rights conventions,” said Amir-Arjomand, who is also the spokesperson for the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, the opposition Green Movement’s leading decision-making body.
“The use of unjustifiable violence in dealing with the legitimate demands of ethnic and religious minorities is in violation of national interests and the [Islamic] Revolution’s fundamental ideals,” he added. “The Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope condemns the repression, arrest and the illegitimate use of violence against Khuzestani citizens who pursue their demands through peaceful means.”
Rights groups have repeatedly documented the discriminations against ethnic Arabs and the lack of socioeconomic development in the region.
Source: Iran Green Voice
A group of 48 Iranian being held hostage by Syrian rebels, traveled to Damascus with the help of a travel agency owned by the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to media reports on Wednesday.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ the 48 men have strong ties to the Guards contrary to Tehran’s claims that they are simply pilgrims.
The kidnapped Iranians travelled to Damascus on Saturday as part of a large contingent on a trip organized by the Revolutionary Guards Crops travel agency, people familiar with the trip told WSJ.
They boarded six buses and traveled from Tehran to their destination, the Al-Faradis Hotel in downtown Damascus, when the last bus in the convoy was stopped at a checkpoint set up by the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a person involved in the planning of the trip said to WSJ.
“Everyone on this trip was either a Guard or a Basij militia. This wasn’t a regular tour group,” said an employee of the tour agency that organized the trip.
The tour operating company Samen Al Aemmeh, is not open to the public and solely caters to members and families of Guards or the Basij militia.
The company is also a subsidiary of Samen Al Aemmeh Industries, one of Guards’ largest umbrella groups, which is under sanctions by the United Nations Security Council and by the U.S. Treasury for its alleged role in missile building and Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
The reason for the 48 men’s journey, at the height of some of the most violent clashes in Syria, is not yet clear. But sources told WSJ that the men were all active members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (ICRG), on a mission to train Syrian forces in counterinsurgency methods, as Syrian forces fight a decisive battle in Aleppo.
If the hostages do belong to the ICRG, it would be the biggest indication to date that Iran is strongly involved in Syria’s 17-month long uprising and could ensure Iran is further isolated in the region, fueled by anger from Arab neighbors that have been staunch supporters of the Syrian opposition.
A member of the Guards said Tehran has stepped up its technical and training assistance to Syria in recent weeks. He said ICRG members are traveling to Syria to train government forces in guerilla warfare tactics similar to those used by Tehran against Kurdish rebels or Baluchi separatist groups along Iran’s borders. The battle of Aleppo, for example, is a classic example of IRGC tactics, the source said; the army intentionally lets rebels gain territory of neighborhoods then closes in on them by ground and aerial offensives.
Iran has vehemently denied the men were anything other than religious pilgrims but Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that some of them are retired soldiers or Revolutionary Guards.
“Some of these beloved ones were on IRGC and military pensions … and others were from other different departments,” Ali Akbar Salehi said while denying they now had any military connection.
Iran has steadfastly supported its ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his attempts to crush opposition to his rule.
Salehi said retired government employees from a number of agencies had signed up to make pilgrimages to Damascus after recent fighting in the Syrian capital had subsided.
Iran has official banned tours and pilgrimages to Syria. And regular tour companies have long stopped their offers for trips to Damascus.
“After some time in which pilgrims from Iran were not being dispatched to Syria…we took steps to send retired forces from various organizations,” Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted Salehi as saying.
Al Arabiya TV aired a video by the Free Syrian Army showing the men huddled on the floor as one them got up and presented ID cards that the rebels said were proof of his ICRG affiliation and a permit to carry a weapon. A rebel spokesman in the Damascus area said on Monday three of the Iranians had been killed by government shelling. He initially said the rest would be executed if the shelling did not stop but later said they were being questioned.
stop.
The hostages have presented Iran with a foreign policy crisis and forced it to reach out to countries which have backed the opposition and have been at odds with Tehran’s support for Assad.
Salehi’s comments came after he visited Tuesday to Turkey to ask Ankara to use its links with Syria rebels to secure the Iranians’ release. The Iranians have also appealed to Qatar for help.
Iran has in fact launched a diplomatic blitz by sending top diplomats across the region to lobby their release.
Saeed Jalili, head of Iran’s National Security Council and top nuclear negotiator, traveled to Damascus on Tuesday and met with Assad. Mr. Jalili said Iran would not let its close partnership with the Syrian leadership be shaken by the uprising or external foes
Damascus and Tehran have heldGulf Arab states and Turkey, all allies of the United States and European powers, responsible for the violence in Syria by supporting the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels. Western powers sympathetic to the rebels are concerned that anti-Western Sunni Islamists could benefit from a victory for the anti-Assad forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, without naming Iran, warned on Wednesday against a descent into “sectarian warfare” and said Washington would not tolerate “sending in proxies or terrorist fighters” to “exploit” Syria’s conflict.
Source: Alarabiya
In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, 190 Iranian political and human rights activists, and media personalities urge him to take “practical steps” for the release of political prisoners in Iran. The letter further stated that the activists also encouraged Ban Ki-Moon to meet Iran’s opposition leaders, who are jailed or are under house arrest, and called for their earliest possible release.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
In Syria and around the world, Iran’s covert operatives are struggling.
The powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, its infamous expeditionary unit, the Quds Force, and the network of Hezbollah operatives it supports around the world are starting to look like the proverbial gang that couldn’t shoot straight. They’re still dangerous, to be sure, but a series of recent incidents widely attributed to these groups suggest that as spies, assassins and terrorists, they just aren’t what they used to be. And Tehran is getting worried.
According to sources in the Iranian capital, concerns about IRGC inadequacies are fueling the bitter infighting among Iran’s elites at a critical time: the war in Syria threatens to bring down Iran’s most vital Arab ally, the confrontation with Israel and the West over Iran’s nuclear program has provoked devastating sanctions, and a military attack on Iran by Israel still looms as a distinct possibility. This is a bad moment for the Iranians to discover their fearsome covert operatives are essentially incompetent.
Last weekend, for instance, Syrian rebels captured a group of 48 Iranians who were alleged to be IRGC members on “a reconnaissance mission” in Damascus. Rumours have circulated extensively in Tehran (a very rumour-prone city) that the head of the Quds Force, Qasem Suleimani himself, was wounded recently when his convoy was attacked in Damascus. Over the last year, at least nine apparent Iranian assassination and bomb plots around the world have failed or been thwarted. The grim attack on a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last month, which killed seven people and wounded 30, appears to have been the exceptional “success” for these murderers rather than the rule.
Blogger Mohammad Hassan Roozitaleb has reportedly been sentenced to four months in prison after insulting the heads of the legislative and judicial authorities, the Larijani brothers, referring to them as the Brothers Dictatorship.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
Iran pledged that its “axis” with Syria will “never” be allowed to break when Tehran sought to bolster President Bashar al-Assad by sending a senior envoy to Damascus.
Mr Assad made his first appearance on state television for over a fortnight, promising to continue the struggle against his enemies “without respite”.
Iran has been trying to guarantee the survival of Mr Assad, who serves as Tehran’s only reliable ally in the Middle East, by supplying Syria’s regime with funds, weaponry and expert personnel to aid the campaign against rebels.
Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, came to Damascus as a visible symbol of that support.
“Iran will never allow the resistance axis – of which Syria is an essential pillar – to break,” he said. The “axis of resistance” refers to the Middle East’s anti-Western powers: Iran, Syria and the armed groups, Hizbollah and Hamas, although in reality the latter has already broken away by ending its presence in Damascus.
Iran and Syria both claim that foreign countries have caused the uprising against Mr Assad with the aim of destroying the “axis”. During his visit, Mr Jalili echoed that message. “What is happening in Syria is not an internal issue but a conflict between the axis of resistance on one hand, and the regional and global enemies of this axis on the other,” he said.
Mousavi adviser calls on NAM to stress plight of political prisoners in Iran; authorities are afraid of the people.
Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, Spokesperson for the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope and former legal advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, underlined that the release of the opposition leaders was the most “honorable” solution to the political and economic quagmire Iran was tangled in. He warned, “Without national reconciliation, there will be no way out of the current international and domestic deadlock.” Amir-Arjomand described recent remarks by Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i about the condition of Karroubi and Mousavi as “Shameful… On the one hand, they say that nobody has the right to negotiate the release of Ms Ranhavard and Mr. Karroubi and Mousavi… and on the on the other hand, he [Eje’i] claims they are in their own homes and not in prison… The authorities are, in fact, afraid of the people.” Amir-Arjomand continued, “Rahnavard, Karroubi and Mousavi mirror the demands of a large segment of the Iranian people.” Amir-Arjomand said it was still too early to reach a final decision regarding the 2013 elections. “The people must be convinced that they have a right to choose and that their votes will be safeguarded. How can people be convinced when candidates from the previous elections as well as political activists are still in prison, and there’s no freedom for dialogue or assembly… As long as the Revolutionary Guard and Ahmad Jannati [Chairman of the Guardians Council] are the ones who determine the outcome of elections, nothing will change.” He urged countries participating in the upcoming summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran to highlight the plight of political prisoners in Iran and to send low-level delegations to the conference to protest the ongoing human rights violations in Iran.
Source: Iran Daily Brief
