The civil war in Syria is being used by Iran to further its regional ambitions, as it seeks to prop up the government of Bashar Al Assad with units of its Revolutionary Guards based in Syria. The blunt admission from the Guard’s commander, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, was surprising only for its frankness, even if Jafari claimed that the Guards’ presence was not a “military presence” and was only to offer advice.
It is far more likely that the Revolutionary Guards have moved well beyond such roles and are actively taking part in the fighting. Iran has been an ally of Al Assad for decades and regards its presence in Syria as an important strategic asset, which it will fight to protect. Syria’s Mediterranean coastline and central position in the Levant offers Iran an important base from which it can mount operations in countries, including Lebanon, through its ally Hezbollah.
Iran’s military involvement in the Syrian civil war is a design to further Iranian interests, not Syrian. It is thoroughly dangerous for the region that Iran has this capability, and it would be much better if Iran withdrew all its forces from Syria, leaving Syria to the Syrians. It is nonsense for the Iranians to claim that their presence in Syria is legitimised by their being “proud members of the [anti-Israel] resistance”. Iran’s presence in Syria adds a further unnecessary complication to the Syrian civil war, as was made very clear when the Iranian general gave a blunt warning to other forces that if the Syrian regime was threatened, Iran would intervene more effectively to support Al Assad.
However, Al Assad cannot rely on Iranian support to prop up his regime. The future of Syria has to be managed by the Syrians, to the benefit of their own country. This is why so many supporters of the rebels are still hesitating to offer military support to the Free Syrian Army. The civil war must not become a proxy for regional rivalries and Iran is playing a very dangerous game.
