Iran covertly recruits Afghan Shias to fight in Syria

[robert99]

Iran covertly recruits Afghan Shias to fight in Syria
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ly-recruits-afghan-soldiers-to-fight-in-syria
This has been known for a while. Lots of young Afghanis with drug problems have fled to the West from Syria.

 

[robert99]

You read it here first!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/world/asia/afghanistan-syria-army-war.html
Some of the Afghan fighters head to Syria for religious reasons, seeing the battle as a war against Sunni extremists or choosing to defend Shiite holy sites in Syria alongside other Shiite militiamen from Lebanon or Iraq. Others were coerced or duped into fighting, say human rights groups. But most were enticed by financial benefits, including the promise of legal residence for the fighters and their families in Iran, said Abdul Rahim Ghulami. He is a local official in Herat who said his brother-in-law was a commander of an Afghan unit fighting in Aleppo.

Iran’s government provides a few weeks of training and flies the men to Syria, where they join one of the Afghan brigades. Those units are sometimes viewed with suspicion by their own allies: In interviews in Syria, some of the other fighters from pro-government militias disparaged the Afghans as too young and poorly trained.

 

[robert99]

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/29072016
BBC Persian quoted many Afghan asylum seekers in Greece claiming that Iranian authorities were sending undocumented migrants to fight in Syria.

In a special report, BBC Persian quotes a 24-year-old Afghan who had spent two months fighting in Syria after being recruited and trained in a military camp in Iran.

 

[robert99]

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/18082016
Since the start of the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria Iran has been leading militia groups in both countries and that many Afghans have been recruited to fight for the Syrian regime, a commander of the Revolutionary Guards has told his country’s media.

"This army now fights on three fronts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen,” Gen. Falaki said.

"The main goal in the creation of the first generation of the Shia liberation army is to erase Israel in 23 years, which is now on its border.” Falaki told Mashregh News.

Falaki confirmed recent reports that Iran has recruited undocumented Afghan migrants of the Shiite faith and sent them to battle in Syria.

“The Fatmiyon Afghan militia in Syria receive $100 in return for their volunteer fight,” Gen. Falaki said. “They volunteer to fight for nothing in return.”

The general lamented that his army does not enjoy good relations with the Afghan fighters due to a historical negative perception Iranians have had of Afghans.

“The revolutionary guards still face problems for not having brotherly and good relations with Afghanis, because of the inferior perception that Iranian have of Afghans,” he explained.