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Aleppo ‘hell’ report provokes fierce backlash in Iran

September 2, 2016 at 6:30 pm

A report in the official Iranian newspaper Iran has described the battle for Aleppo as the “hell of the Iranian troops and the militias and forces fighting alongside them.” The article in a publication owned by the Iranian government has provoked a fierce backlash from the media and new media linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.

In a report seen by Arabi 21, the newspaper spoke about the advance of the Syrian revolutionaries in the north of Syria. It also highlighted the miserable humanitarian conditions in Aleppo and the many victims of the siege and war in which Iran is a “main participant”. The battle for Aleppo and the general situation in Syria continues to attract a lot of public interest in Iran, not least because of the casualties amongst Iranian troops fighting in the country.

Iran newspaper is owned by the Iranian government. According to Watan Amroz, “The chairman of the Cultural Committee in the Iranian Parliament has warned Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati” about the “dubious reports” published by Iran concerning Aleppo. “Such media coverage is regarded as being of assistance to the opposition groups in Syria,” claimed Narallah Bajman Farr.

The response published by Watan Amroz made the front page under the headline, “Iran against Rouhani”, a direct attack on the Iranian president. The article claimed that Iran’s coverage of the war in Syria is seen as official media policy “aimed at undermining Iranian national security” and which contributes to “supporting the takfiri terrorists in Syria.”

Bajman Farr demanded an official explanation from President Rouhani regarding the Iran article about the battle for Aleppo, in which it is known that a number of senior Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed. The latest of these was Brigadier General Ahmad Ghulami, who was killed on Tuesday.

Watan Amroz also complained that the publication by Iran of a photograph of a Syrian child — named only as Imran — which “portrays the opposition in Syria as if they are oppressed and persecuted” is a “stab in the back” of resistance axis forces.

“The publication of the picture in this manner will damage the reputation of those who are fighting in defence of the Shia shrines,” it insisted. “This picture is more suited to the foreign news media hostile to Iran and which also published the picture for the purpose of putting media and political pressure on Tehran.”

The parliamentary representative of the city of Isfahan alleged that there is an “influential current” within Iran that is being supported by outside powers. “It has managed to penetrate some of the news media,” he claimed. “The publication of the child’s photograph by a government-owned newspaper demonstrates the role of this current within the Iranian news media that is aimed at hitting Iran from within.”

In another twist, Watan Amroz also revealed that secret negotiations over Syria are currently taking place between the government in Tehran and some other countries in the region. It added that the publication of such reports in Iran newspaper which portray the Syrian opposition as being strong and wronged amounts to sending the wrong diplomatic messages to the countries with which Tehran is negotiating at this sensitive stage of the war in Syria.

Observers of Iran’s internal affairs with whom Arab 21 is in contact believe that “the disagreement between the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guards Corps over foreign affairs has become very clear and is evident from the coverage of regional news by various Iranian newspapers and websites.”

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.