Iran began to evacuate its military commanders and personnel from Syria on Friday, according to regional officials and three Iranian officials, in a sign of Iran’s inability to help keep President Bashar Assad in power as he faces a resurgent rebel offensive.

Among those evacuated to neighbouring Iraq and Lebanon were top commanders of Iran’s powerful Quds Force, the external branch of the Revolutionary Guard, the officials said. The move signalled a remarkable turn for Assad, whose government Iran has backed throughout Syria’s 13-year civil war, and for Iran, which has used Syria as a key route to supply weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Revolutionary Guard personnel, some Iranian diplomatic staff members, their families, and Iranian civilians were also being evacuated, according to the Iranian officials, two of them members of the Guard, and regional officials. Iranians began to leave Syria on Friday morning, the officials said.

Evacuations were ordered at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and at bases of the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian and regional officials said. At least some of the embassy staff has departed. Some are leaving by plane to Tehran while others are leaving via land routes to Lebanon, Iraq and the Syrian port of Latakia, the officials said.

New York Times News Service