Iran confirms sending troops to Syria 
Islamic Republic admits its forces are aiding Assad's regime in crackdown on pro-democracy protesters; UN's tally of fatalities in Syrian uprising is at 13,000

By Dudi Cohen
Ynet News
May 27, 2012
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234608,00.html \t _blank http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234608,00.html

Iran confirmed Sunday that it has, as previously speculated, sent troops to aid President http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158680,00.html \t _blank Bashar Assad's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in his country. 
 
The United Nations and human rights groups estimate that over 13,000 people have been killed in http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234308,00.html \t _blank Syria since the uprising began in March 2011 – 9,200 of them civilians. 
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. 
 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234531,00.html \t _blank 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. 
 
The quote was later removed from ISNA's website. 

Sunday's statement was particularly strident, as it followed the brutal killing of 92 people, including 32 children, in http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234394,00.html \t _blank Houla, in the embattled province of http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4195749,00.html \t _blank Homs, by Damascus' forces.
 
The carnage was strongly http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4234480,00.html \t _blank condemned by the United Nations, the United States, Britain, Germany and France; and the http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4181859,00.html \t _blank Arab League called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council.
 
Earlier Sunday, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said armed groups carried out the attack in Houla.
 
No Syrian artillery or heavy weapons were used in the area of Houla, he told reporters. 
 

Meanwhile, a senior Arab League official said that Syria has denied permission for a deputy of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to travel to Damascus.
 
The official said that Syria made clear that the decision against former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa was not personal, but rather because it did not want to deal with the Arab League.
 
Annan is due in Damascus on Monday. The Arab League named Al-Kidwa as his deputy in March.