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Iran has reportedly sent 150 senior Revolutionary Guards commanders to Syria in a bid to intensify its support to President Bashar al-Assad. Western intelligence officials have claimed that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has personally sanctioned the dispatch of the experienced officers to ensure that the Assad regime survives the threat to its survival. Iran has also reportedly shipped hundreds of tons of military equipment, including guns, rockets, and shells to Syria through the regular air corridor that has been established between Damascus and Tehran, the Telegraph reports. The Revolutionary Guards officers were flown to Damascus in chartered Iranian aircraft, which were given permission to fly through Iraqi air space. Iranian military equipment is said to have been shipped to Syria by the same route, the paper said. According to the report, the Iranian operation to support Assad is being masterminded by Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Guards' Quds force, which is responsible for overseeing Iran's overseas operations. The decision to increase Iran's support for Syria was taken after the Syrian defence minister and Assad's brother-in-law were killed in a suicide bomb attack at Syria's national security headquarters in July, the paper said.

Iran sends troops, military equipment to aid Assad regime