Southern Syria: Iran and Hezbollah recruiting Through “Al-Areen Brigades”.
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Roshan Amiri
- . March 17, 2020
- . Update: March 17, 2020 12:19 pm
Iranian forces and militias, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah, are continuing their recruitment operations in secret and overtly in both southern Syria and the Euphrates River western banks, in exchange for generous amounts of money, according to the Syrian Human Rights Observatory.
Iranian militias are trying to attract individuals, as the Iranians and Hezbollah in Daraa, for example, continue the recruitment and encouragement of young men through a group known as “Saraya al-Areen” of the 313 brigade in the north of the governorate, in addition to other centers in Sidon, Dael and Izraa .
The new recruits’ militia is being trained in the Al-Lajat area, east of Daraa, and close to the border with the occupied Syrian Golan. Hezbollah continues to consolidate its influence in Quneitra by attracting young men fleeing the regimes’ security apparatus’ pursuit regarding compulsory and reserve service, and given the deterioration of living conditions and the lack of work opportunities, as recruitment operations are concentrated in both the Baath city and Khan Arnaba.
In the west of the Euphrates, recruitment operations continue within the area that extends from Al-Mayadeen to Al-Bukamal in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, which is completely under the control of Iranian influence.
In addition, the Observatory reported that the number of affiliates in southern Syria has risen to more than 5350, and the number of 3,600 young men of different ages who have been recruited into the Iranian forces and their militias’ ranks within the area west of the Euphrates in the countryside of Deir Ezzor.
It also pointed out that Iranian militias in that region have intensified recruitment operations because of the Russians’ preoccupation with military operations and agreements with the Turks in northern Syria.
