Iran’s bluster does not cloak its Syrian intervention

NCRI , Paris – As NATO moves to deploy Patriot missile batteries in its Turkish ally’s frontier with Syria, to ward off Syrian aggression and Scuds, Iran has launched an ironic critique of the move. Syria’s Assad regime has in recent days launched Scuds in its increasingly violent campaign to stamp out insurrection. The Scuds, aimed at civil population centers, are indiscriminate weapons that have reportedly caused huge casualties among the Syrian people.

The Iranian regime has defended Assad’s regime which has served as a vital link to Iran’s Lebanese Hezbollah allies. Iran has reportedly supplied Assad with weapons, intelligence and military advisors, Special Forces, and billions of dollars in aid to prop up the regime as its demise seems increasingly likely.

Reuters reported today that Iran’s army chief of staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi, whose country has been a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the 21-month uprising against his rule, criticized the Western military alliance for its move. Analysts viewed the Iranian protest as an attempt by Tehran to cloak its own intervention in Syria.
 
Over forty thousand people have been reported killed in the most protracted of the Arab revolts. 
The World Food Programme (WFP) says as many as a million Syrians may go hungry this winter, as worsening security conditions make it harder to reach conflict zones.

The conflict has also driven a flood of Syrians to seek shelter in neighboring countries, which already host half a million registered refugees and perhaps hundreds of thousands more who have not declared themselves.

Two and a half million people have been displaced inside Syria, leading to fears of widespread suffering this winter.