Iran: Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, meets President Mahmoud Abbas

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi,  met with Mr. Mahmoud Abbas

EU Reporter Correspondent, August 1, 2016 - President Mahmoud Abbas, at the meeting, reiterated the need to combat fundamentalism and terrorism in the region and informed Mrs. Rajavi of the latest developments in the Middle East, in particular regarding Palestine and France’s initiative.
Mrs. Rajavi expressed gratitude for the solidarity of the Palestinian resistance and its leader with the Iranian people and Resistance. She expressed hope that the goal of the Palestinian people would be achieved.
Mrs. Rajavi believes that the Iranian regime is the main instigator of sectarian discord in the region, in particular in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine, but she added that today the mullahs’ regime is at its weakest and most fragile and vulnerable state. She said that this could be seen in the reaction of the regime’s officials and state media to the Iranian Resistance’s July 9 gathering.
Mrs. Rajavi said the Iranian regime is fearful of the solidarity and unity between the Iranian people’s resistance movement and the countries and nations of the region. She said that Iranian people and the Iranian resistance ought to take the initiative to free the region from the scourge of fundamentalism.

More dead Pasdaran come back home from Syria

 

Iran is taking increasingly heavy casualties in Syria. A statement from the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) announced on Saturday that thirteen of the corps’ élite forces were “martyred” in the escalating battle near Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, which has become the front line in the five-year civil war. Another twenty-one Iranians were wounded. It is, for Iran, the largest single casualty toll since the country intervened to rescue the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The fighting took place in Khan Touman, a village nine miles south of Aleppo.

There’s no hiding the human costs in a war that is being played out graphically on social media. Syrian rebels immediately posted grisly photographs and videos of a pile of corpses dressed in camouflage, as well as photos of wallets with Iranian documents, identity cards, and currency.

The news has made front pages across Tehran. The newspaper Ghanoun compared the fight for Aleppo with the Battle of Karbala, from the year 680—an event that was pivotal in the Islamic world and has symbolized tensions between Shiites and Sunnis ever since. In Karbala, a small group of Shiites were slaughtered by Sunnis of the Umayyad dynasty. Since then, Sunnis have dominated Islam—in terms of numbers, geographic range, resources, and power. Karbala also made martyrdom integral to Shiite tradition—and to Tehran’s concept of modern warfare.

In Syria last week, Iran’s Shiite forces were killed by an alliance of Sunnis known as the Army of Conquest, or Jaish al-Fatah, which is made up of Islamic extremist groups that includes the al-Nusra Front, Syria’s Al Qaeda franchise.

Tehran continues to maintain that its forces serve only in advisory roles, but the numbers dying on the battlefield challenge the claim. Between 2013 and mid-2015, Iranian news agencies identified more than four hundred martyrs. Since last September, another three hundred fighters have died in Syria, according to the latest month-by-month tally published by the Levantine Group, an independent Middle East risk-assessment firm. “Iran has suffered as many (or even more) casualties in the past six months than in the first two years of its operations,” the group reported. The two deadliest months were April (fifty deaths) and February (sixty-four).

In February, amid new peace efforts led by the United Nations, Iran withdrew a “significant number” of its Revolutionary Guards, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. “Their presence is actually reduced in Syria,” Kerry told a congressional committee. “That doesn’t mean that they’re still not engaged and active in the flow of weapons from Syria through Damascus to Lebanon. We’re concerned about that.” But Iran has other forces in Syria. This spring, the government announced the deployment of Special Forces from the regular Army, in what was their first active engagement since the war with Iraq, in the nineteen-eighties. Within a week, four fighters were killed.

Iran has also deployed a large number of Afghan refugees, men who fled wars in their own country and have been stranded in Iran for years, even decades. These fighters are effectively stateless and mostly poor, with limited access to education or social services. Iran has recruited them for the Fatemioun Brigade, a largely Afghan unit organized under the Revolutionary Guards. (The name is derived from the Fatamid dynasty, which ruled a large chunk of the Middle East from 909 until 1171.)

The Afghans began showing up in Syria in 2013, initially to protect Shiite shrines. Iran calls them “volunteers,” but they were promised residence permits, better jobs, and other perks if they joined the equivalent of a foreign legion—and were threatened with deportation if they refused, according to Human Rights Watch. The BBC Persian Service reported that Iran is now deploying thousands of Afghans to fight alongside Syria’s own forces.

The Afghans—mainly drawn from ethnic Hazaras, who are Shiites and speak Persian—are now undeniably deployed on the front lines. Fatemioun’s two top commanders, both Afghans, died in battle late last year. More than half of the sixty-four Iranian fighters killed in April were Afghan auxiliaries, according to the Levantine Group. A year ago, Iranian media reported that at least two hundred fighters from the Fatemioun Brigade had died in Syria. The dead are given military funerals back in Iran, and the numbers keep mounting.

On Friday, Ali Akbar Velayati, a foreign-policy adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, flew to Damascus, where he told reporters, “Our assessment is that Syria is in a position of strength more than any other time.” He also praised Assad, saying, “I believe the Syrian President has shown that he can manage the country with prudence and bravery.” On Saturday, Velayati met with Assad and renewed his government’s pledge of support. “Iran will use its entire means to fight against terrorists who are committing crimes in the region,” Velayati vowed. This promise clearly includes the martyrdom of even more Iranians and their Afghan proxies.

Mullahs’ regime’s in Iran attempt to exploit Paris terrorist catastrophe

Following catastrophic terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, November 13, the antihuman mullahs’ regime, known as the Godfather of international terrorism, has not been able cloak its jubilance over this crime against humanity and is despicably attempting to exploit this tragedy to legitimize the massacre of the Syrian people and the Assad dictatorship remaining in power that are the very main elements behind the emergence and expansion of ISIS.
Abu Talebi, political advisor to the mullahs’ president Hassan Rouhani and the regime’s former ambassador to France, has described the terrorist crimes in Paris as “inevitable”, “the outcome of the West’s arbitrary measures in supporting terrorism … and neglecting Iran’s warnings during the past few years.”
“The French have paid the price of their government’s support for ISIS and terrorism,” said Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, deputy commander of the mullahs’ armed forces general staff. Describing the Syrian people’s resistance as terrorism he added, “From the first months of the terrorist measures in Syria and other neighboring countries, we gave numerous warnings to Europe that terrorism will engulf their lands.” This Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) general threatened Europe of more terrorist attacks and said, “If the West continues its support of terrorism… they will have to expect declaring emergency state in other parts of the European continent.” (IRGC-associated Fars news agency – November 14, 2015)
Tasnim, the news agency affiliated to the terrorist Quds Force, described the Paris tragedy as “homemade terrorism” in France and Europe and wrote, “Khamenei had during the past few years warned Western leaders that supporting terrorism in the region will eventually turn back on you… and in the not so distant future, these groups will cause turmoil in the same countries that supported them.” This news agency posted a despicable cartoon entitled “Homemade Terrorism”, depicting an image that the roots of ISIS are in the hands of France and its president.
In an interview with France’s Channel 2 TV, Mullah Hassan Rouhani, the regime’s president, had blatantly supported the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Assad just two days before this terrorist attack. Rouhani also went on to emphasize the idea of actually strengthening Assad.
Quds Online, affiliated to the IRGC, described the Syrian opposition as terrorist and wrote, “The U.S. and European countries support terrorists under the pretext of confronting Syria’s legal president, and they have allowed them to carry out crimes against humanity. The byproduct of such an approach is seen in the Paris terrorist attacks, and currently ISIS is like a dog that has bitten its owner’s leg, and the countries of Italy, United Kingdom and United States are threatened with similar attacks. If Western countries are seeking to prevent being engulfed in such human catastrophes, they must uproot terrorists without meddling in the internal affairs of other countries such as Syria. For this objective it is necessary for the West to leave the fate of Bashar Assad up to the Syrian people and focus their efforts on uprooting terrorism [read resistance forces and the Free Syrian Army].”

Iranians demonstrate in Paris to condemn Rouhani’s trip to France

On November 16, the Iranian regime’s President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to arrive in France for a two-day visit. A major rally and march has been organized coinciding his visit to Paris. Protestors will seek to draw attention to the dramatic increase in the number of executions since Rouhani took office, as well as the recent rocket attack on Camp Liberty, where thousands of Iranian dissidents reside in Iraq.
Demonstrators will also address the Iranian regime’s export of terrorism and its all-out support of Bashar al-Assad and massacre of the Syrian people.
The rally will be led by Iranian expatriates, who will be joined by French citizens and international supporters of the Iranian resistance. Several renowned human rights organizations have joined in sponsorship of the event.
Cross-party French lawmakers will be among the speakers at the event, as will political and social dignitaries from France and from across Europe.
Elaborate street performances and exhibitions have been planned for the event, to depict examples of Iranian human rights violations.
The human rights situation has been deteriorating rapidly in Iran. More than 2,000 individuals have been executed during Rouhani’s tenure. This is the highest rate of executions in the past 25 years, and it reflects an increase over figures that had already secured Iran’s place as the nation with the most executions per capita.
Camp Liberty, the place of residence in Iraq for more than 2,000 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), was targeted on October 29 by the Iranian regime. The barrage of 80 rockets killed 24 residents of the camp and wounded dozens of others.
Venue of the rally: Trocadéro, Paris
Date and time: Monday, November 16, 2015, 13:30

Mr. President, please realize that your strategy isn't working

" President Obama's comments yesterday reveal the disturbing degree of self-delusion that characterizes the Administration’s campaign," McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. "None of the so-called progress that the President cited suggests that we are on a path to success, and when you are not winning in warfare, you are losing."

McCain's remarks come after Obama who was briefed by top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. Obama spoke at the Pentagon, providing an update on the U.S. and global campaign to defeat the terrorist organization. He said" This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign. ISIL is opportunistic, and it is nimble," the president said. "Our mission to destroy ISIL and to keep our country safe will be difficult; it will take time. There will be setbacks as well as progress."

Obama did not explain about his hesitations about neither  arming the Syrian moderate opposition group ,The Syrian liberating free Army nor the national Sunnites in Iraq, but said" the United States and its partners have hit ISIS, or ISIL, with 5,000 airstrikes and killed thousands of the group's members that  means nothing  for those Arabs who have suffered and still suffering from the isis extremists and have been crushed by the  terrorist regime of Iran .

McCain suggested that the administration's current efforts won't be enough to defeat the terrorist organization, and pressed for military leaders to be "candid" with Obama.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also criticized the president on Monday, suggesting that it was time for Obama to make "hard decisions" in the ISIS fight

“Just weeks after President Obama admitted we lacked a complete strategy to combat ISIS, he’s now touting his efforts against the group. But his rhetoric doesn’t match reality," he said.

Their remarks follow criticism from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who told John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York’s AM 970 on Sunday that Obama "doesn't' know what he's doing" in the Middle East. 

Graham, who is running for president, suggested that Obama's foreign policy has aided terrorist groups, including ISIS, in going unchecked. 

Across the Capitol, Rep. Mac Thornberry, McCain's counterpart in the House, said ahead of Obama's remarks that the president should realize that "his strategy to defeat ISIL isn't working."

"I hope that the President will acknowledge these realities, end the veto threats on bills that would enhance his ability to take the fight to ISIL, and rethink his own inadequate strategy," he added.

For conclusion the majority of the policy makers in the west and Arab countries believe that the president should realize that "his strategy to defeat terrorism isn't working, before anything because he has shacked hands with the God father of global terrorism and tries to help them in nuclear negotiations; he backs Huthimilitias in Yemen by directing the United nations and its convey of 25 ships delivering goods to them in Hodeida bay; and different kinds of hindrances on those who really need to fight against terrorism in Iran such as the PMOI and NCRI.http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ So we should tell him Mr. President, please realize that your strategy isn't working, let us manage the problem by ourselves.