Iran sends 8,000 ‘troops’ into Syria and Lebanon, trained in ‘urban combat tactics’
Iran is establishing a military presence in Syria and Lebanon by dispatching 6,000-8,000 “militiamen” to battle for the Assad regime.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that an Iranian airlift placed Iranian boots on the ground in Syria for the first time in more than two years of its civil war. The arrivals are members of the violent Basij volunteer militia which is trained in urban combat tactics for suppressing anti-regime unrest in Iranian cities.

Photo/Talmoryair via wikimedia commons
The report also notes that this is the first time Israel has faced their “hostile” neighbor in such “close quarters” on the soil of their neighbor.
“The Basij militiamen were stationed in Damascus and sent to guard Syrian Shiite border villages situated opposite Hizballah-controlled South Lebanon. This deployment has placed Iranian troops opposite the intersection of the Israeli, Syrian and Lebanese borders.”
Israel had called up thousands of soldiers this week and Iran appears to be countering.
US officials recently gave Israel a video demonstration of the new features which enable its biggest bunker buster bomb (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) to destroy Iran’s underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordo near Qom, in a bid to dissuade Israel from a unilateral attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Tons of details in the report – here