Iran's defence minister insisted on Saturday that the country has never sent "military forces" to Syria, reiterating its denial of allegations by Western powers backing Syrian rebels. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sent military forces to Syria and will never do so," Ahmad Vahidi said in a statement reported by Iranian media.
"Iran does not believe in sending military troops to Syria based on its policies towards the resolution of the conflict," he said, referring to Tehran's calls for a political solution to the war estimated to have cost more than 94,000 lives since 2011. He did not specify whether he was referring to combat troops or military advisors.
In September, the chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said that members of his foreign operations Quds Force unit were in Syria but only to provide its government with "counsel and advice." Iran is accused by Western and Arab countries which back rebels fighting its ally President Bashar al-Assad of supplying weapons and sending military forces to the Syrian military.
A top US official said on Tuesday that Iranians were working alongside their Shia Lebanese ally Hezbollah fighters to back Syrian troops battling to retake the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, near the Lebanese border. "It is the most visible effort we have seen by Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force, and we understand there are also Iranians up there," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Such accusations are also raised by the Syrian armed opposition which accuses Iran of "killing Syrians."