Iran regime has been coercing Afghan refugees to agree to fight for the Syrian dictator. And in past few years many Afghan nationals have been dispatched to Syria to fight for Bashar al-Assad, sources from the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) say.
Incapable of mobilizing and dispatching necessary troops from Iran to the conflict and apprehensive of a backlash within its forces due to rising IRGC casualties, the regime has resorted to mobilizing the mercenaries using various tactics including threating them with execution.
In recent years, particularly Afghan refugees living in Iran have been tapped for this purpose. The Iranian regime has threatened the refugees with deportation from Iran, imprisonment or even execution (all serious violations of human rights) to dispatch the Afghan refugees to Syria.
According to the sources of the PMOI (MEK) inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the dispatching of Afghans to Syria has grown almost three-fold in 2015; from around 2500 to close to 7000. However, in recent months, the Iranian regime has encountered serious hurdles in this regard. Despite its need to ramp up its forces in Syria, Afghans are more than ever resisting going to Syria. As a result of increasing resistance by Afghans, the regime has failed to dispatch greater numbers of Afghans to fight in Syria despite the fact that it needs more troops for the frontlines.
According to official statistics published by the regime, there are at least 1.49 million Afghan refugees in Iran. Of these, between 800,000 and 1 million are without documents and IDs and are unemployed. According to the regulations of the Interior Ministry, the Afghans residing in Iran cannot own property and they have no personal or legal identity. They live not only under the poverty line, but under the “survival” line. In such circumstances, the regime has established a large organization under IRGC Quds Force supervision to recruit and dispatch Afghans to Syria. The Afghan force started as a battalion, then grew into a brigade, and has recently become a division.
The Afghans who participate in the Syrian conflict are organized in a division called “Fatemiyoun” that operates under the command of the Quds Force (QF), the extra-territorial arm of the IRGC. The division was formed from the IRGC Afghan fighters who had participated in the Iran-Iraq war and who are now officers in the IRGC and in particular in the Quds Force.
The sources have revealed that the Iranian regime recruits Afghan mercenaries from amongst thousands of Afghans imprisoned in Iran, some for lacking proper documents and others for social reasons. They are coerced into joining the force and registering to be dispatched to Syria.
The recruits are taken to Quds Force training garrisons to receive two to four weeks of basic military training. Once they complete their training, they receive around $500. They are subsequently dispatched to Syria in groups of 200 which later are organized in Fatemiyoun Divisions.
They are flown to Damascus Airport by Mahan Airline that belongs to the IRGC. Once in Syria, they are first taken to visit the shrines of Zeinab and Roqiya and then they are sent to different fronts. Their mission lasts for 60 days and all of their commanders and trainers are from the IRGC.
The information provided by the PMOI (MEK) reveals the command structure of the Fatemiyoun Division and their centers for transfer, deployment and training in Syria.
In recent months, Fatemiyoun casualties, particularly around Aleppo, have been considerable, experiencing a jump compared to previous years.
The high number of casualties, including the Afghan senior commander of Fatemiyoun Division Tavassoli (pseudonym Abu Hamed) and his deputy Reza Bakhshi killed around Daraa in Tabe Qarin area on March 10, 2015, and the regime’s lack of providing support to the families of those killed or seized in Syria has led to a crisis with Afghans living in Iran and has raised much discontent and loath among Afghans that are sent to Syria and their families.
Therefore Afghans living in Iran are no longer willing to go to Syria to fight, leaving the Iranian regime short of much needed forces to prop up Assad
