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Iranian General Plotted Out Syrian Assault in Moscow
(Reuters) Laila Bassam and Tom Perry - At a meeting in Moscow in July, Iranian Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, unfurled a map of Syria to explain to his hosts how Russian military intervention could reshape the Syrian war and forge a new Iranian-Russian alliance in support of Assad. As Russian warplanes bomb rebels from above, the arrival of Iranian special forces for ground operations underscores several months of planning. Three senior officials in the region say Soleimani's July trip was preceded by high-level Russian-Iranian contacts that produced political agreement on the need to pump in new support for Assad as his losses accelerated.