Earlier in the week, Stern published an image showing the Free Syrian Army's commander in the city of Homs Lt. Abdul Razak Talas holding an Iranian passport while standing facing a man, who the defected Syrian officer claimed to be an Iranian.
Talas said the man was a member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and that he had been arrested along with four others in Homs, while holding Iranian passports.
He said the men were captured in a battle area wearing janitor suits and carrying personal pictures on military ID cards, insisting one of the cards indicated the suspect's IRGC membership.
The picture was reportedly first published on the website of Facebook social network by a group called Ugarit News, in an attempt to portray the five men captured in Syria as IRGC members in the country.
The allegation comes in contrast with evidence introducing the kidnapped men as Iranian electrical engineers commissioned to help energy production in Syria's power plants.
Informed sources in Syria believe the five in the militants' custody have been transported to the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where anti-Damascus elements are operating.
The publication of the rare photo by Stern has also raised doubts about a like affiliation between the German magazine and the terrorist forces.
