Pilgrim's tale: identity of Iranians kidnapped in Syria begins to emerge
By  Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Iran Blog @ guardian.co.uk , 14 Jan 2013

Revolutionary Guards likely to be among the 48 Iranians released by rebels, though Tehran says otherwise

So, who were they at last? Pilgrims or members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards? The identities of 48 Iranian nationals who were released from Syria after a prisoner swap, brokered by Turkish aid workers and Qatar, are gradually emerging.

Syrian rebels behind the kidnapping of the Iranians from a bus in the suburbs of Damascus alleged that their captives were sent to help the Assad regime crush its opponents. Iran denied this but said some were retired Revolutionary Guards. According to Tehran, the Iranian nationals were pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Hazrat Zainab, a popular destination in Syria for devout Shia Iranians.

Last week, more than 2,100 opposition prisoners, including Turkish nationals, were exchanged for the 48 Iranians who were held captive for five months [....]

Exclusive: Secret State Department cable: Chemical weapons used in Syria
By Josh Rogin, The Cable @ ForeignPolicy.com, Jan. 15, 2013 - 5:45 PM

A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month, The Cable has learned

United States diplomats in Turkey conducted a previously undisclosed, intensive investigation into claims that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, and made what an Obama administration official who reviewed the cable called a "compelling case" that Assad's military forces had used a deadly form of poison gas.

The cable, signed by the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, and sent to State Department headquarters in Washington last week, outlined the results of the consulate's investigation into reports from inside Syria that chemical weapons had been used in the city of Homs on Dec. 23 [....]

Fierce fighting rages across Syria
Battles follow a massacre in Homs and an attack on a university in Aleppo, which together left 200 dead.
Al Jazeera, 17 Jan 2013 16:53

Syrian warplanes and troops pursued a countrywide offensive, activists and state media have said, bombing rebel-held areas and clashing with armed gfroups who have pushed into cities.

Government forces clashed on Thursday with rebels in the cities of Deraa, Hama, Homs, Aleppo, Damascus and east of Deir al-Zor, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Only the coastal government strongholds of Latakia and Tartous were spared violence [....]