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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran Now Glorifies Its Fatalities in Syria |
| 2016-07-11 |
| from NYTimes For years, Iran covered up its military activities in Syria and Iraq, so the government could deny any official involvement on the ground. No longer. Now every Iranian killed in action is named, his picture published, his valor lauded in elaborate tributes in the hard-line news media and on Instagram accounts dedicated to the fighters. The Revolutionary Guards see publicizing the sacrifices of the fallen as a way to build domestic support for the current Syria policy and squelch any talk of compromise. The Instagram accounts have attracted tens of thousands of followers, most of them supporting the military effort. "By being open about our role, we can prevent a diplomatic [non Alawite/Shiite Hegemony] solution in Syria," said Hamidreza Taraghi, a hard-line political analyst close to Iran's leaders. "First, we must defeat all terrorists in the battlefield. Only after that can we negotiate with them." |
| Posted by:lord garth |
| #1 Buried in the article: One of the more prominent Instagram accounts is run by a reporter for Iranian state television, Hassan Shemshadi, who honors Iranian fighters and Afghans in the Iran-backed Fatemiyoun brigade... Since he started posting news of soldiers’ deaths in 2015, he has published a total of 346 mini-obituaries of Iranians and Iranian-backed Afghans in Syria and Iraq. That is a large majority of the 400 or so Iranian and Afghan soldiers thought to have died so far in the conflicts there. Figger the number of casualties is double that. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-07-11 08:20 |