Saturday 15 September 2012

The FSA In Aleppo Kill An Iranian Officer, Or Do They?

During the Syrian conflict it has been often claimed that members of the Iranian military and security forces are inside Syria, assisting the Assad government against the opposition.  Videos have been posted in the past of men the opposition claim to be members of the Iranian military or security forces, but, as of yet, there has been no solid proof.

This video filmed in Salahedin, Aleppo shows members of the armed opposition claiming to have an ID card from a Iranian officer they've killed


The details of the card are unclear in this video, but the group posted a photograph of the ID on their Facebook page


The card clearly states it's for the Fajr International Cultural and Sports Tournament, which seems to cover a number of competitive events taking place in Iran on a regular basis with international competitors, so clearly this is not a military ID.

The ID card is also for a Syrian citizen, Ali Ibrahim, not an Iranian citizen, which is acknowledge by the group who killed him on the Facebook page, but they go on to claim this is proof he took a martial arts training course in Iran.  However, his position is described as "player", so it seems far more likely he competed in an international event in Iran, and then returned to Syria.

This hasn't stopped the video from being reposted on Youtube with the description "Syria Freedom Fighters Show Iran Passport of Iranian Army Officer Battle Casualty", and being spread around social media sites claiming to show proof of Iranians in Syria.  As always anyone watching videos from Syria should always think twice about unquestionably accepting claims about the content of a video or photograph, and always try to find the original source of a video rather than relying on whatever spin the person reposting the video puts on it.

Related Articles
Car Bomb Left Outside Mosque In Damascus Disarmed By FSA
Syrian State TV Lies About Turks In Tremseh
Guardian - Syrian army being aided by Iranian forces
The Daily Telegraph - Iran's elite Quds force 'advising Assad regime' 

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

1 comment:

  1. Looks like a poor athlete got killed for having had the misfortune of training in Iran

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