TEHRAN – The Iranian Navy commander announced on Saturday that two navy formations have volunteered to defend holy sites in Syria.

Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari gave no figures for the number of volunteers.
“We have received reports from two navy groups, volunteering to be dispatched to Syria to defend the Ahl al-Bayt sanctuary,” said the commander.
In the Islamic tradition, Ahl al-Bayt (People of the House) refers to the family of Prophet Mohammad and literally, to all Imams.
A number of Shiite figures, including Zeinab, one of the daughters of Ali (AS), the first Shiite Imam, have been buried in Syria.
Final decision in this regard, according to Sayyari, is to be made by higher echelons of the country.
“Naturally any decision in this regard falls within the purview of higher echelons and up to the moment, no decree to dispatch the Iranian Navy has be received.”
Earlier in April, Iranian Army’s elite forces, named the 65 Nohed Airborne Brigade, deployed a group of its commandos in Syria to provide advisory support for President Bashar al-Assad’s Army in fight against terrorist groups.   
This was the first time Iranian officials formally announced the use of regular army in Syria though the army chief later said those regular forces were volunteers working under the supervision of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Also, General Ramezan Sharif, head of the IRGC's public relations office, had said “Many young Iranians from different parts of the country and of different ethnicities have volunteered to go to Syria ... to help the Syrian government and the Syrian people in their fight against terrorism.”
Iran has two distinct armed forces - a regular army serving as a national defense force, and the IRGC that was created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Islamic Republic against both internal and external adversaries.
Ever since the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011, Tehran has proven to be a key player in the conflict, sending advisory teams to the Syrian battlefield, losing ranking commandos in direct combats.

AK/PA