“If the Islamic Republic was not present in Syria, the massacre of civilians would have been twice as bad,” General Ismail Qa’ani, deputy-commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force, told Tehran’s ISNA news agency.

Iran, he added, “Had physically and non-physically stopped the rebels from killing many more among the Syrian people.”

This was a rare admission by an Iranian official that Tehran was truly aiding the Damascus regime.