20-Feb-12: Those Iranian warships are making their presence felt in Syria

Iranian naval forces [source]

Egyptian security sources and members of the Syrian opposition are quoted today claiming that those Iranian ships docked off the Syrian coast (we wrote about them on Saturday) have "military communications jamming devices that are disrupting communications made by the Syrian opposition via satellite". The report notes that Egyptian security sources say the Al-Assad regime in Damascus had been running into difficulties in monitoring the opposition's phone calls.

The Iranians are known to stand by their clients.

A Reuters report this morning says despite the ruthless full-scale military attacks on their civilian fellow Syrians by the Al-Assad forces, the opponents of the House of Assad managed to pull off one the biggest demonstrations yet in the capital Damascus yesterday. The uprising against the Assad regime is nearing its first anniversary, and the bloodshed is increasing.

What effect might the Iranian naval presence have on that?  Wikipedia knows a few things about the Iranian talent for stamping out democratic opposition.

As for live news coverage and analysis from Damascus, let's not hold our breath. As Aljazeera pointed out a few days ago, the Syrian government bars most independent journalists from the country, making first-hand reporting impossible. If you were interested in murdering upwards of 5,000 of your countrymen (so far), you would probably do the same.