Iranian soldiers are fighting alongside Assad army: captured soldier tells Al Arabiya

A man, who is reportedly an Iranian officer in the custody of the rebel Free Syrian Army, spoke to Al Arabiya Thursday and said he used to train snipers for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He said that he used to train the men in the western province of Idlib, in which – he added – he stayed for months.

“My name is Hamid Wothouq, amd I’m from Shiraz city. I stayed in al-Fouaa and Kafriya for five month to work with snipers. In Iran, I worked for the Basij [Iranian paramilitary organization]. I want help from the Islamic republic,” he told Al Arabiya’s cameras.

Wothouq allegedly entered Syria from Turkey and said there were Iranian soldiers spread in the country to help the Assad regime in fighting rebels.

“In al-Fouaa and Kafriya, Bousra, Tartous and Damascus, there are Iranian soldiers fighting alongside the Assad army.”

Rebel Free Syrian Army leaders described Wothouq’s capture as a “precious find” and formidable proof against the Syrian regime’s claim that no Iranian soldiers or members of Lebanon’s Shiite movement, Hezbollah, were present in the country.