They have been a part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” — Syria-based proxy teams created to defend the previous Assad regime as a part of Iran’s marketing campaign to develop its affect throughout the Middle East.
The Fatemiyoun Brigade was made up of Afghan Shiites introduced in from Iran; the Zainebiyoun Brigade was composed of their Pakistani non secular cohorts.
At the peak of the Syrian civil battle, the 2 teams fought in main battles, serving to Syrian forces to reclaim misplaced territory from the Islamic State group (IS), together with Palmyra and Aleppo in 2016 and Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor in 2017.
But when a coalition of anti-Assad rebels swept the nation in latest weeks, most deserted their posts and fled, in line with information accounts and researchers who comply with these teams.
“They folded so shortly that central bases that I knew for a reality have been surrounded by not less than 1,000 of those guys have been empty,” stated Phillip Smyth, who has researched Iranian proxy teams for almost 20 years.
Their whereabouts stay unsure. But specialists say Iran is unlikely to disband them at a time when Hamas and Hezbollah — two different members of the Axis of Resistance — are reeling from devastating Israeli strikes.
“They want forces like this,” Smyth stated in an interview, referring to Iran. “They can now not depend on Lebanese Hezbollah. They can now not depend on lots of different regional companions, so I believe if we have a look at this, they sort of should not solely hold it going, however they’ll should in all probability develop it otherwise.”
Origins
The Fatemiyoun and the Zainebiyoun emerged within the early years of the Syrian civil battle because the fundamentalist Sunni IS started threatening the Assad regime and concentrating on Shiite shrines in Syria and different Shiite websites.
The Fatemiyoun began in 2012 with only a handful of Afghan Shiite volunteers. Some had fought within the Nineteen Eighties Iran-Iraq battle and the Nineties Afghan civil battle, whereas others have been residing as refugees in Syria.
Initially combating alongside different pro-Assad militias in Syria, they emerged as an impartial group in 2013, largely led by Iranian army commanders, in line with Smyth.
The Pakistani Zainebiyoun, the smaller of the 2 teams, was initially a part of the Afghan Fatemiyoun, in line with Smyth. But the Pakistanis did not all the time “mesh” with the Afghans, so Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) determined to separate them off, in line with Smyth.
Despite preliminary denials, the IRGC’s involvement in recruiting, arming, coaching and funding the 2 militias was an open secret, in line with researchers.
The IRGC used a mixture of incentives and coercion to recruit Afghan refugees and migrants. Undocumented Afghans have been provided cash and the promise of authorized standing. Some have been pulled out of prisons and have been promised that their prison information can be expunged in the event that they joined the Fatemiyoun, in line with Smyth.
Others have been religiously and ideologically motivated, decided to defend Shiite shrines towards IS. Many Afghans and Pakistanis have been recruited from non secular seminaries in Iran.
The recruitment effort prolonged to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the place Iran-allied Shiite teams enlisted volunteers, drawing hearth from the authorities.
According to Fakhar Hayat Kakakhel, a researcher on militant outfits in Pakistan, many Zainebiyoun members have been recruited from Pakistan’s Shiite-dominated Kurram tribal district, Gilgit area, southern Punjab and the Hazara inhabitants in Quetta.
As the civil battle intensified and IS emerged as a potent drive, the ranks of the 2 teams swelled.
In 2015, a information outlet affiliated with the overall workers of the Iranian armed forces reported that the Fatemiyoun had been upgraded from a brigade to a division, suggesting it had between 10,000 and 20,000 troopers.
Smyth estimates their quantity extra conservatively at 5,000 to 10,000. The Zainebiyoun was about half that dimension with 2,500 to 4,000 fighters, in line with Smyth.
Role in Syrian civil battle
The two teams performed a big function through the Syrian civil battle, serving as key pillars of assist for the Assad regime. At numerous factors through the battle, they operated throughout almost all of Syria’s governorates, stated Muaz Al Abdullah, Middle East analysis supervisor at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), an impartial analysis group.
Their mission, in line with Abdullah, was “to retake management of areas from IS after which to defend the Syrian authorities army and pro-government army bases.” Members of the Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun additionally participated in battles in Aleppo and southern Syria, Abdullah stated.
In 2018, a Fatemiyoun official stated that 2,000 of its personal fighters had been killed and eight,000 wounded. No figures on Zainebiyoun casualties can be found.
Smyth stated the Fatemiyoun have been usually used as “cannon fodder.”
“Let’s say Lebanese Hezbollah wanted for use a bit bit extra readily in Lebanon, then they might pull out, go away some command parts on the bottom to regulate Fatemiyoun, after which have the Fatemiyoun guys there,” Smyth stated.
Final days of Assad regime
In latest years, because the Assad regime consolidated its management over a lot of the nation, the variety of militia forces combating in Syria dwindled. Yet even earlier than the Assad regime’s fall, there have been nonetheless 2,500 to five,000 Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun fighters in Syria, Smyth stated.
Mostly concentrated in northeastern Syria, smaller forces operated in Damascus, and a few have been sometimes deployed to Aleppo and different elements of the nation, he stated.
As the rebels started their shock offensive late final month, some specialists predicted a fierce battle for Damascus, anticipating the IRGC and its proxies to defend the regime.
Videos circulated by Iraqi militia final week confirmed the Fatemiyoun across the shrine of Zainab exterior Damascus.
“Some of them have been claiming these Fatemiyoun wish to keep and defend the shrine. They’re not on the brink of go away,” Smyth stated.
On Iranian tv, IRGC officers echoed that message.
They have been saying “don’t fret, our boys, the fellows we skilled … have been combating very, very exhausting,” Smyth stated. “I have never seen any proof of that. There aren’t any casualty lists. There is not any declare of what was happening.”
Instead, anti-government rebels discovered deserted bases, capturing the scene on video.
One video reveals an armed insurgent fighter inside a former Fatemiyoun base shouting “Khomeini’s pigs” as he rips out Fatemiyoun and Iranian flags. Another reveals a bigger base in Idlib with partitions painted with the Fatemiyoun flag and ransacked rooms with Persian language posters and indicators scattered round.
Where they went stays unsure. Iranian officers have not commented, however information experiences have indicated that some have been flown to Iran together with IRGC forces. Others are stated to have crossed into neighboring Iraq or adopted fleeing Hezbollah forces into Lebanon.
Smyth speculates that some remnants of the 2 teams would possibly nonetheless be in Syria, awaiting evacuation. However, a return to Afghanistan and Pakistan appears inconceivable, provided that authorities have cracked down on returning fighters.
Iftikhar Hussain of VOA Deewa contributed to this report.
