Initially, Iran told the world that the 48 were "religious pilgrims." But members of the Free Syrian Army who have claimed responsibility for holding them says they're members of the elite Revolutionary Guards. New York Times: "They are Iranian thugs who were in Damascus for a field reconnaissance mission," said a rebel leader, in a video that the rebels said showed the captives sitting calmly behind armed Syrian fighters. In the video, the rebels flipped through what they said were Iranian identification cards and certificates for carrying weapons, proving, the rebels said, that the hostages were not religious pilgrims. The identities and motives of the captives could not be independently verified, and some rebel groups have not embraced the kidnapping or the theory laid out by the fighters in the video. Col. Malik al-Kurdi, a deputy commander of the Free Syrian Army - one of several competing umbrella groups involved in the fighting - said the brigade taking ...(Read Full Post)