![\"Iran\"](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/iran.jpg?w=620\")
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Iran preparing to dispatch snipers, commandos to Syria<\/h1>\nAs Russia announces pullout, Tehran says it is training teams of \u2018military advisers\u2019 to be deployed abroad<\/h2>\n
Iran signaled that it was training commandos and snipers to send to Syria, days after Russia announced it was pulling most of its troops out of the country to allow a diplomatic process to take hold.<\/p>\n
Iran, which said it would also send the troops to Iraq, characterized them as \u201cmilitary advisers.\u201d
\nGeneral Ali Arasteh, deputy chief liaison of the Iranian Army\u2019s Ground Force, told reporters in Tehran that the first group was undergoing preparation and may be sent soon, according to the semi-official Fars news website on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point we might decide to use our commandos and snipers as military advisers in Iraq and Syria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Tasnim news site, regarded as close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reported Wednesday that the first contingent of \u201crapid reaction\u201d commandos and snipers had attended a ceremony to mark the end of a two-month intensive course training with an Iranian-made sniper rifle.<\/p>\n
Iran has been backing Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war, providing troops, training, logistical support and cash.<\/p>\n
Support from Russia and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has also been key to helping Assad maintain power during a civil war that has stretched on for five years, but this week the Kremlin announced it would pull much of its force out of Syria.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow\u2019s retreat could leave a vacuum filled by Iran and Hezbollah, both sworn to Israel\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cWe want Iran and Hezbollah not to emerge strengthened from this entire process,\u201d Rivlin told reporters he would tell Putin at the meeting. \u201cEverybody agrees that the Islamic State organization is a danger to the entire world, but Shiite Iranian fundamentalist Islam is for us just as dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group, denied reports Wednesday that it was also pulling out of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalse messages have been disseminated about the partial withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters\u201d from Syria, a Hezbollah official told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.<\/p>\n
Last week, General Qassem Soleimani, who commands the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, said his force would continue operating outside Iran\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
The Quds force is responsible for overseas military and clandestine operations.<\/p>\n