Iran has over 1,000 troops in Iraq, over 2,000 in Syria: US
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WASHINGTON, Oct 27, (Agencies): Washington believes there are fewer than 2,000 Iranian troops in Syria helping the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and more than 1,000 in Iraq supporting the Baghdad government, the top US military officer said on Tuesday. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the number of Iranian forces in Iraq had fluctuated over time. “I think there’s more than 1,000 that are on the ground in Iraq,” Dunford said. “In Syria, we think the numbers are probably something less than 2,000.” An Iranian official says the Revolutionary Guard has sent more military advisers to Syria to help President Assad in the fight against insurgents. Gen Hossein Salami, the Guard’s deputy leader, says this has led to more Iranian deaths in the conflict. Salami didn’t give any specifics for the Iranian death toll or for the number of troops dispatched.
Salami spoke to state television on Tuesday. He says Iranian forces are also trying to mobilize volunteers in Syria to help Assad push back rebels, though he did not say if those included Western-backed rebel groups fighting in Syria. Along with Russia, Iran is a key Assad ally and has provided his government with military and political backing for years. Tehran, however, denies the presence of Iranian combat troops in Syria.
US military troops are intensifying pressure on Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, supporting local forces with an expanded air campaign and occasional direct action on the ground, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told lawmakers on Tuesday. Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee the campaign against the militants was evolving as the US military seeks to reinforce what is working on the ground. He said US forces aimed to intensify pressure on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria and the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Carter said he expected the coalition air campaign to intensify, with more aircraft and a higher tempo of operations. He said the United States also wouldn’t hesitate to support local forces with “strikes from the air or direct action on the ground.”
Meanwhile, Iran has been invited to participate for the first time in international talks over Syria’s future, US officials said Tuesday, a shift in strategy for the United States and its allies as they seek to halt the four-year civil war and eventually ease President Assad out of power. Iran has yet to reply, the officials said.
The next diplomatic round starts Thursday in Vienna, with Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and several top European and Arab diplomats attending. Washington had held out the possibility of Iran joining the discussions in future, but is only now offering Tehran a seat after days of behindthe- scenes negotiation, particularly with its regional rival Saudi Arabia. The United States is taking a gamble. Iran has backed Assad’s government throughout the conflict, fighting alongside the Syrian military, and is seen by Westernbacked rebels and US partners in the region as a major source of the bloodshed
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