Washington: US officials say they see Iran's hand in the increasingly brutal crackdown on opposition strongholds in Syria, including evidence of Iranian military and intelligence support for government troops accused of mass executions and other atrocities in the past week.
Three US officials with access to intelligence reports from the region described a spike in Iranian-supplied arms and other aid for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad at a time when the regime is mounting an unprecedented offensive to crush resistance in the key city of Homs.
"The aid from Iran is increasing and is increasingly focused on lethal assistance," said one of the officials, insisting on anonymity to discuss intelligence reports from the region.
The expanded Iranian role in the conflict has been underscored by reports, supported by US intelligence findings, that an Iranian operative was recently wounded while working with Syrian security forces inside the country.
Battling a dilemma
The flow of military aid to Al Assad comes as Arab states are considering arming the regime's opponents, raising the risk of a wider conflict that US officials fear could spread to neighbouring countries.
In addition, the intelligence reports about rising Iranian support for Syria come as US officials are seeking to rally international support for efforts to drive Al Assad from power without resorting to arming the rebels — a move the Obama administration has opposed.
The portrayal offered by the three officials quoted in this story is more detailed than previously reported; such accounts are generally difficult to verify independently. Iran has made no secret of its support for the Al Assad regime.
Rebel reports
The US intelligence assessments are in line with recent reports by Syrian rebels, who say Iran's involvement in the crackdown has escalated.
Opposition leaders, citing high-ranking defectors from the Syrian military, say Iran has dispatched hundreds of advisers, security officials and intelligence operatives to Syria, along with weapons, money and electronic surveillance equipment. "Iran has been involved in the crackdown by Assad on a much larger scale than previously thought," said Ammar Abdul Hamid, a Washington-based Syrian activist and a member of the Syria Working Group of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a Washington think-tank.
Stories of Syrian troops being accompanied by black-bearded men speaking a foreign language and assumed to be Iranian have circulated widely inside Syria for many months, but activists acknowledge they have little hard evidence that Iranians are actually participating in the offensives.
Hostages
"We saw some evidence, but we can't prove it," said Omar Shakir, who fled to Lebanon from the former opposition stronghold of Baba Amr a week ago.
"We have seen tall guys, big guys wearing black," he added.
The Free Syrian Army is holding seven Iranian hostages captured in Homs in December.
The Iranian government says they are power-plant workers, but the rebels assert that they were working for the Revolutionary Guard Corps. Eleven Iranians abducted in January are still missing, Iran's Press TV reported on Saturday.
The belief that Shiite-dominated Iran is aiding the Syrian crackdown has helped sharpen sectarian sentiments among those in mostly Sunni Syria seeking to topple the Al Assad regime, which is dominated by members of Al Assad's minority Alawite sect.
US officials declined to address allegations about specific acts. But one of the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said intelligence agencies have documented reports of a wide range of assistance.
"They've supplied equipment, weapons and technical assistance — even monitoring tools — to help suppress unrest," the official said. "Iranian security officials also travelled to Damascus to help deliver this assistance."
A second senior US official said Iran has recently dispatched members of its main intelligence service, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, to Damascus to assist in advising and training Syrian counterparts in charge of the crackdown.
Allegations
Iran's intelligence service played a key role in Tehran's crackdown on the country's Green Movement in 2009 and is associated with allegations of sexual abuse, torture and mock executions of protesters.
"It now is believed to be exporting its vicious practices to support the Syrian regime's abhorrent crackdown on its own population", said David Cohen, the US Treasury Department's under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
The head of Iran's Quds Force, Brigadier General Qasim Sulaimani, also has paid at least one visit to Damascus in recent weeks, US officials said.
