Iranian Lawmaker Deplores West’s War Rhetoric against Syria

A prominent Iranian legislator stressed the necessity for finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and lashed out at the West for its threat of military intervention in the crisis-hit country.

Speaking on Saturday, Member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Evaz Heidarpour said the Western powers are fully aware that the Syrian crisis can be only settled through “a political solution and negotiation”, however, they use the threat of military action to wage a psychological war against the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Heidarpour further noted that the militaristic policies of the West, the US in particular, has created a tense situation in the Middle-East, and cautioned that unrest in this region will affect all other countries.

If the West and some Arab countries had not meddled in the internal affairs of Syria, the country’s crisis would not have continued for two years as foreign meddling has further complicated the equations in the Arab state, the Iranian lawmaker stated.

Heidarpour, however, warned that any military intervention by the US and its allies in Syria would be a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the international law.

Also on Saturday, a ranking US military source disclosed that the US is sending the artilleries, armored vehicles and different weapons systems of its troops pulled out from Afghanistan to the rebel groups in Syria.

A ranking member of the US marine troops deployed in Afghanistan told FNA on Saturday that the Pentagon made the decision to send a major part of its light and semi-heavy weapons systems and military equipment to the Syrian rebels along with its pullout from Afghanistan when the former US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, was still in office.

“The decision to send our arms and weapons systems in Afghanistan to the rebel groups in Syria was originally made when the former US Secretary of Defense was in his final days of office, yet the Pentagon has also received the approval of the new Secretary, Chuck Hagel, as well,” said the source who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of his information.

“One of these cargos consists of the light and semi-heavy military tools, equipment and weapons that the US army has gathered and piled up in Kandahar Base and plans to send them to the rebels in Syria in the form of several air and sea cargos and through Turkey and specially Jordan,” he explained.

“These weapons and arms systems include anti-armor and missile systems, rocket-launchers and rockets and tens of armored Humvees,” the source added, explaining that senior war strategists in the Pentagon believe that they can change the scene of the war in Syria in the interest of the rebel groups with the help of these cargos, specially the shoulder-launched missile systems and the multipurpose Humvee vehicles.

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), commonly known as the Humvee, travels as fast as 150 kilometers per hour under different weather conditions and in various geographical climates, and various types of machineguns, rocket-launchers and weapons systems can be mounted on this vehicle.

HMMWVs serve as cargo/troop carriers, automatic weapons platforms, ambulances (four litter patients or eight ambulatory patients), M220 TOW missile carriers, M119 howitzer prime movers, M1097 Avenger Pedestal Mounted Stinger platforms, MRQ-12 direct air support vehicles, S250 shelter carriers, and other roles. The HMMWV is capable of fording 2.5 ft (76 cm) normally, or 5 ft (1.5 m) with the deep-water fording kits installed.

Optional equipment includes a winch (maximum load capacity 6,000 lb (2,700 kg)) and supplemental armor. The M1025/M1026 and M1043/M1044 armament carriers provide mounting and firing capabilities for the M134 Minigun, the Mk 19 grenade launcher, the M2 heavy machine gun, the M240G/B machine gun and M249 LMG. The M1114 “up-armored” HMMWV, introduced in 2004, also features a similar weapons mount. In addition, some M1114 and M1116 up-armored and M1117 Armored Security Vehicle models feature a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS), which allows the gunner to operate from inside the vehicle, and/or the Boomerang anti-sniper detection system.

Humvees can climb slopes 80 degrees upward and this very specific feature along with their high speed has made them a vehicle of choice for the US military in Afghanistan’s mountainous areas.