-The Free Syrian Army has reportedly threatened to execute its Iranian hostages if the Assad government does not free rebel prisoners within 48 hours. The group says the hostages are Iranian government troops, but Iran claims they are pilgrims.

A brigade from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) known as the Bar’a released a video aired on Al-Arabiya in which they warned they would execute an Iranian prisoner “for each martyr who is killed.”



The militia group kidnapped 48 Iranians at the beginning of August, claiming that they were members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards. However, the Iranian government says they are pilgrims on their way to visit a shrine in southeast Damascus and has appealed to Qatar and Turkey to help free the hostages.



Iran admitted in September that it had posted members of the Guard in Syria, working as “high-level advisors.”



In an interview with Al-Arabiya the commander of the Bar’a said that the 48 hostages were part of a group of 150 troops sent by Iran for “reconnaissance on the ground.