Syria rebel video claims to show abducted Iranians

Source: AP-Excite

By ZEINA KARAM

BEIRUT (AP) - A pan-Arab television station aired a video Sunday purporting to show Syrian rebels guarding a group of Iranians abducted a day earlier and promising more attacks on Iranian targets.

Armed men in the video identify themselves as members of the rebel "Baraa Brigades" and say that at least one of the 48 captives was an officer of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards. They claim they Iranians were on a "reconnaissance mission" in the capital Damascus at the time they were abducted. Iran says they are pilgrims who were visiting a shrine.

"We promise Iran and all those who support this regime ... we will strike at all (Iranian) targets in Syria," one of the rebels says in the video. "The fate of all Iranians who operate in Syria will be the same as those we have here, either captive or killed, God willing."

The abductions threaten to pull Syria's close ally Iran deeper into the country's civil war. They also raised questions about the extent to which President Bashar Assad's regime can control the center of its power in the capital.

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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120805/DA0F5DV80.html

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This citizen journalism image taken on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 purports to show Syrian rebels celebrating after taking over the Ansari police station in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria on August 3, 2012. (AP Photo) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS CITIZEN JOURNALIST IMAGE