Dubai – A delegation of Iranian regime MPs arrived in Damascus on Wednesday in the build-up to a joint operation against opposition forces in northwest Syria, according to Reuters, Oct. 14, 2015.
The visit, led by the chairman of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, came as Iranian troops prepared to bolster a Syrian army offensive that two senior officials told Reuters would target rebels in Aleppo.
The attack, which the officials said would be backed by Russian air strikes, underlined the growing involvement of the Iranian regime in the civil war of Bashar al-Assad, which has alarmed a U.S.-led coalition opposed to the president that is bombing Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.
“The international coalition led by America has failed in the fight against terrorism. The cooperation between Syria, Iraq, Iran and Russia has been positive and successful,” Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB as he arrived at Damascus airport.
Iran has sent thousands of troops into Syria in recent days to bolster the planned ground offensive in Aleppo, the two officials told Reuters.
Iran’s Quds force news outlet reported two senior officers from Iranian Revolutionary Guards – Major General Farshad Hasounizadeh and Brigadier Hamid Mokhtarband – were killed in Syria on Monday, though it did not say where.
Another senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Hossein Hamedani, was killed last week while advising the Syrian army near Aleppo.
Assad’s government has been strengthened by two weeks of Russian air strikes. The United States says they have targeted rebel groups.