*Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front)*. Senior cleric Mehdi Taeb, the head of an organisation fighting soft war, offered the catchy headline<http://iranpulse.al-monitor.com/index.php/2013/02/1346/head-of-ammar-strategic-base-syria-is-irans-35th-province-if-we-lose-syria-we-cannot-keep-tehran/#more-1346> in a speech yesterday<http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2013/02/130214_nm_tayeb_syria_basij.shtml> to university student members of the Basij militia: Syria is the 35th province [of Iran] and a strategic province for us. If the enemy attacks us and wants to appropriate either Syria or Khuzestan [in western Iran], the priority is that we keep Syria....If we keep Syria, we can get Khuzestan back too, but if we lose Syria, we cannot keep Tehran."
Taeb also pointed to the Islamic Republic's support of Syrian militias through Iranian advisors inside the the country. He explained, continued:Syria had an army, but did not have the ability to manage a war inside Syrias cities. It is for this reason the Iranian government suggested that, to manage an urban war you must form a Basij The Syrian Basij was formed with 60,000 [members] of the party of God, who took over the war in the streets from the army." More important than Taeb's rhetoric was the death inside Syria of one of those Iranian advisors, Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Shateri, also known as Hossam Khoshnevis, the head of the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon. The commander was killed near Zabadani near the Lebanese border, as he returned to Beirut from Syria. Shateri had been head of Iranian reconstruction efforts in Lebanon, for example, after the 2006 war with Israel. Before that, he had led Tehran's projects in Afghanistan. No details were given, however, of why he was in Syria. Also intriguing are the exact circumstances of Shateri's death. Iranian officials initially said that he had died on Tuesday, but Tehran's declarations that he was killed by "Israeli agents" and the location of his demise led to speculation that he had been killed on 28 January when Israel's jets attacked a convoy carrying military equipment from Syria to Lebanon. http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2013/2/15/iran-live-coverage-syria-the-islamic-republics-35th-province.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/ This is my personal blog. Any comments made by me here are my own and don't reflect the various campaigns I work on (unless of course they are attributed to those campaigns). Some of my activities include being Spokesperson of the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and Equal Rights Now - Organisation against Women's Discrimination in Iran. I work closely with Iran Solidarity, which I founded, and the International Committee against Stoning on the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani stoning case amongst others. I am very much on the Left and am Central Committee member of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. FEB092013 Islamic regime of Iran: Guilty as charged!<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/02/09/islamic-regime-of-iran-guilty-as-charged/> Politics <http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/category/politics/> by Maryam Namazie<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/author/maryamnamazie/> In his interview <http://www.m-hekmat.com/en/1910en.html>entitled *June 20, 1981: One of the Greatest Crimes of the 20th Century*, Mansoor Hekmat likened the Islamic movements suppression of the left-leaning Iranian revolution as a violent coup détat that succeeded as a result of widespread executions and murders: They poured onto the streets and arrested anyone who did not look like a Muslim. If someone had salt and pepper in his/her pockets, they accused him/her of planning to throw it in the eyes of the Revolutionary Guards. They arrested anyone who had recited a poem, who was known to be a Socialist or supporter of womens rights, anyone who was not veiled and anyone who looked Left wing and executed them that same night. Statistics, documents and witnesses proving these atrocities are ample. There will come a day when the people of Iran and the world will observe the trials of those who committed these crimes. On that day, the world will weep for the hundreds of thousands of victims of 20 June (30 Khordad 1360) and after and particularly 1988 (1367). Last year, I wrote about Iran Tribunals <http://www.irantribunal.com/Eng/EnHome.html>investigations into the Islamic regime of Irans mass executions and massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s. The tribunals verdict has now been issued. Here it is.<http://www.irantribunal.com/Eng/PDF/Iran%20Tribunal%20Judgment.pdf> Not surprisingly, the regime has been found guilty of crimes against humanity. Guilty as charged! Next step: Arrest them! ------------------------------------------------- 42013 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Pot. Kettle. Black.<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/02/14/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-pot-kettle-black/> Politics <http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/category/politics/> by Maryam Namazie<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/author/maryamnamazie/> [image: ahmadinejad]<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/files/2013/02/ahmadinejad.jpg>Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused his political rivals of plotting to rig <http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3686124.ece>this summers presidential election in Iran. Pot. Kettle. Black. <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/287950.html> Of course he should know as thats how he got to be president. But seriously, even his most ardent supporters, like George Galloway<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NFhcLGTFF0>, know that elections in Iran are nothing but a farce. For starters, the majority, including women, political opponents, atheists, socialists, and basically anyone on their must die list are ineligible to take part. The Guardian Council a 12-member body probe the candidates commitment to Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran and approve only the most die-hard supporters. Any candidate approved by this body is chosen because he is a most loyal servant and had proven his allegiance beyond a doubt. Candidates also have to be approved by the supreme spiritual leader Khamenei. And thats just for starters. Add to this the absence of political freedoms, like freedom of speech or assembly or press; Sharia laws that make 130 offences punishable by death, including criticising the regime and its rulers; prisons and graves full of political dissidents and you get the point. The candidates should be on wanted not election posters. (You can read more about it in an interview with Hamid Taqvaee<http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2011/06/15/on-the-2009-iranian-election-%E2%80%93-they-must-be-prosecuted/> .) Of course that doesnt stop all these analysts and commentators from writing page upon page about the supposed legacy Ahmadinejad hopes to leave behind. Err, x number of stonings, check. x number of executions, check, check. Cuts in subsidies and benefits, check, check, check And they do so miss the point. Anyone who has any knowledge of Iranian politics knows that the infighting and scraps within the factions of the regime is not because anyone is standing up to anyone else or trying to leave some sordid legacy behind but a reflection of the explosive situation in Iran. People despise this regime and are waiting for any chance to be rid of it. That is the only reason the election matters. It helps to provide people with a space to challenge the system. As an aside, Ahmadinejad has declared Viva Spring<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-iran-viva-spring-iran-elections-larijani.html> as if he is an agent of change or as if the Arab Spring is a gain for his vile movement. In fact, his election like that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is a gain for the establishment and an anti-revolutionary force not the other way round. But he might not be so quick as to mention the Arab Spring next time round after the humiliating shoe attack<http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3679889.ece> . Yes indeed, Viva Spring, and the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Islamism. 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