“It is obvious that Iran has been playing a larger role in Syria in many ways,” Mr Panetta said at a press conference with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey.
There is now evidence that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are “trying to develop, trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime,” Mr Panetta said.;;
“The Syrian army has been fighting now for about 18 months or so. And any army would be taxed with that kind of pace,” Gen Dempsey said, noting he expected that the Syrian military was experiencing resupply and morale problems.
“That’s why Iran is stepping in to form this militia, to take some of the pressure off of the Syrian military.”
