A senior Syrian general has admitted that Iran’s military were closely involved in stopping the uprising against the Assad regime from the earliest stages, providing a crucial insight into how quickly the revolution became a proxy war.
A video posted online shows General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, now Syria’s defence minister, paying tribute to Qasem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s overseas operations, who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3.
Marie Colvin was killed in the bombing of Baba Amr
FRANCESCO GUIDICINI/THE SUNDAY TIMES
Among the feats he attributed to Soleimani was helping to devise the strategy that led to the regime’s reconquest of Baba Amr, a suburb of the city of Homs and site of the first key battle of the war. His comments suggest that Soleimani’s involvement was vital from
