Bombing of the Diayla Province in Iraq with fighter-bombers
Brig. Gen. Ahmadreza Pourdastan, head of the Army’s Center for Strategic Studies and Research, and the former commander of the Iranian regime’s ground forces admitted in a television interview that under the orders of Qassem Soleimani, the notorious Quds Force Commander, the Army had transferred weapons, ammunition, and forces to Syria and that by forming a combat brigade it was actively involved in the murder of the people of that country. He also acknowledged that on several occasions, the Army’s aircraft bombed Iraq’s Diyala Province.
All these crimes are a blatant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, in particular Resolution 2231.
During an interview with State television on January 1, he said, “The IRGC was the main force supporting the Quds Force. The Army also declared its readiness. Initially, the Army provided logistical support. Its cargo planes transferred ammunition and personnel from Tehran to Syria, to Damascus. The ground forces provided ammunition in different calibers, small and large, different RPG 7 and SPG 9 rockets, 107 mm missiles, and Katyusha. Every day, we would load many large trucks with ammunition. We would take a part of it to the airport to be loaded on planes bound for Syria. Other parts would be taken to the Khosravi border with Iraq, where Iraqi trucks would load them. After a while, we sent special commandos (to Iraq), and later the artillery. This close connection between the Army and the Qods Force continued. On occasions, Haj Qassem (Soleimani) deemed it necessary for our fighters to enter the action. In Diyala Province, our aircraft carried out several bombing sorties. When the 747 aircraft landed, it was fired on. You can come and see the planes. There were bullet holes all over it. The pilot would land the plane in the dark without guiding lights, unload the ammunition and the personnel and return. Eight Army commandos were martyred. Haj Qassem said these (Army personnel in Syria) must not scatter around. They must form their brigade. The Special Commandos we dispatched were in a brigade formation. We named it Malek Ashtar, and we augmented it with Fatemiyoun (Afghan recruits) in the Aleppo region. A commander and several deputies, a team of pilots, a logistical team, and an ammunition team were also sent, giving our forces some capacity.”
The unprecedented admissions by one of the Army’s veteran commanders make it palpably clear that the ruling religious fascism put the Army in the service of terrorism, warmongering, and crimes against humanity in Iraq and Syria.
On April 19, 2016, the Iranian Resistance announced, “Following the IRGC’s successive defeats, Khamenei had dispatched the conventional army to Syria as well.”
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
January 3, 2021
