deputy commander of the Pasdar Qods Force in which he stated three times that Iranian forces were present inside Syria. Radio Farda said the interview was pulled from the ISNA website hours after it was posted. Ghani said, “Thanks to Iran’s presence in Syria—physically and non-physically—big massacres were prevented.” Later he said the Qods Force has an “effective” presence in Syria. And he said, “If the Islamic Republic had not been present in Syria, the massacre of its people would have been multiplied.” The government officially denies that any Iranians are in Syria helping the government put down the rebellion.