Pilgrims or mercenaries?

Iran asks Turkey, Qatar for help freeing captured nationals in Syria

Free Syrian Army claims the Iranians are members of elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards, not pilgrims.

Tehran has asked Turkey and Qatar to help secure the release of Iranian nationals kidnapped in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday. The Free Syrian Army claimed the Iranians were members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Forty-eight Iranians who disappeared in Syria on Saturday were kidnapped by the Free Syrian Army, Iran's Fars news agency reported.

The pilgrims were traveling from Damascus to the Sayeda Zeinab mosque, a holy shrine for Shia Muslims located in a southern suburb, Iran’s state-owned al-Alam TV station said.

"Terrorists affiliated to the so-called Free Army are in charge of the abduction of the Iranian pilgrims," a Syrian government official told Fars.

In exclusive footage aired by Al Arabiya TV, Syrian rebels alleged that the Iranians are members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards military force.

The rebels “captured 48 of the Shabiha [militiamen] of Iran who were on a reconnaissance mission in Damascus,” said a man dressed as an officer of the Free Syrian Army.

“During the investigation, we found that some of them were officers of the Revolutionary Guards,” he said.

The man then displayed ID documents allegedly taken from one of the prisoners, who appeared in the video’s background with a large Syrian independence flag held by two armed men behind them.

“They are 48, in addition to an Afghani interpreter,”Abdel Nasser Shmeir, commander of the Al-Baraa Brigade said.

Shmeir claimed that the captives were members of a 150-strong group sent by Iran for “reconnaissance on the ground.”

If the detainees are pilgrims, it is another incident where the Sunni-dominated Syrian opposition has targeted Iran's mostly Shia pilgrims for kidnapping.

The Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of seven Iranian engineers last December, who were involved in the construction of a power plant in central Syria. The opposition accused the Iranians of aiding the government of President Bashar al-Assad. At least four of the men have been released.