Al-Seyassah (Kuwait), 20 Oct 2012 – Western diplomatic sources revealed that recently Bashar al-Assad has replaced his personal guards, which are mostly Alawites, in fear of being assassinated by one of them.
Assad is receiving aid from the Iranian IRGC to protect and monitor top influential Syrian officials whose assassination or defection is considered a blow to the regime said these sources to the Al-Arabiya TV website.
Assad no longer has any trust in Syrian security forces – who Syrian sources say have been trained in Russia – since the number of dissidents from the Alawites has recently risen. Therefore, after the recommendation of Major General Hossein Hamedani, IRGC representative in Damascus, Assad has recently leaned on members of the IRGC Special Forces.
Major General Hamedani, a little while after stepping down from a high ranking post in the IRGC, in which he was responsible for the security of Tehran and took part in the suppression of post-2009 presidential election uprisings, was appointed as the IRGC representative to Damascus.
It is worth noting that Hamedani is among those targeted by international sanctions against Iran.