I couldn't stay asleep this morning so went to watch the TV. In the 0530 - 0600 slot on BBC1 news was an `Our World' mini documentary, the subject was the war in Syria. Rebels fighting the regime say they have captured a video diary made by Iranian troops in Syria. Extracts from the video are shown with some translations. It gives a fascinating insight into how Iran attempts to maintain influence in the Levant, and how one of their local commanders viewed the conflict. The video diary fell into rebel hands after the man who filmed it was killed when he and several of his colleagues, including the commander, were caught in the open, outflanked and outgunned by the rebels. Interestingly, while the commander had a very public funeral in Teheran two days later, a senior Iranian officer flatly denied that Iran has troops in Syria.