In 1979 Iran took the American Embassy hostage. Then they sponsored Hizb’Allah’s kidnapping of Americans in Lebanon in the 80’s. Now in an ironic turn about, 48 Iranians are being held by the Muslim Brotherhood/al-Qaeda affiliated Free Syrian Army. The Syrian Jihadists claim they are members of the terror sponsoring Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Syrian rebels said a group of people captured near Damascus included members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as fighting raged outside the capital and in Aleppo, according to a video broadcast by Al Arabiya.
The claim conflicted with Iranian descriptions of the abducted people as pilgrims. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi urged Turkey and Qatar, two countries that have backed the Syrian opposition, to help release the group, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The agency said that 48 pilgrims were abducted.
The video broadcast by Al Arabiya television showed the Iranians sitting under a flag of the rebel Free Syria Army and surrounded by men carrying weapons. One rebel officer, who wasn’t identified, said several of the Iranians belonged to the Revolutionary Guard. The authenticity of the video couldn’t be confirmed.
Shiite Muslim-led Iran has been one of the few regional allies of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which is dominated by officials from the Alawite sect, affiliated with Shiite Islam. Turkey and Qatar, two largely Sunni Muslim states, have backed the opposition. The rebels are largely drawn from the Sunni majority.
What goes around comes around. Iran is getting a taste of its own medicine. The Middle East is self destructing and I, for one, could not be happier!
Tags: Arab Spring, Free Syrian Army, Hostages, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Popular Uprising
