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Old 07-07-2020, 04:14 AM
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Post A War Between Occupiers? Thousands of Syrians Join Russia- and Iran-Backed Military F

A War Between Occupiers? Thousands of Syrians Join Russia- and Iran-Backed Military Factions in Daraa
By: Taym Al-Ahmad - Iran Wire News - 07-07-20
Re: https://iranwire.com/en/features/7268

Photo link: https://iranwire.com/media/filer_pub...-2_upscale.jpg

A notorious Iran-backed branch of the Syrian army, The Fourth Division, launched yet another fresh recruitment drive on May 6 this year. The elite formation, which is led by Bashar al-Assad’s brother Maher al-Assad, invited sign-ups at its headquarters in the western Daraa countryside.

This initiative coincided with the Eighth Brigade in the Fifth Corps, which is led by former guerrilla opposition leader Ahmad al-Awda and backed by Russia, also opening its doors to new recruits.

Close to 3,000 young people have reportedly signed up via the Fourth Division’s regional centers and around 20,000 have applied to join the Eighth Brigade – to the dismay of the body tasked with preserving the delicate balance of power in Daraa.

The twin announcements encapsulate the internal conflict that has been going on in southern Syria ever since a settlement agreement was signed back in July 2018 between local factions and Iranian strands of the Syrian military, which include its Air Force Intelligence, State Security, Fourth Division and Fifteenth Division of the Special Forces.

The agreement was reached under a Russian guarantee of the return of stability and services to the region, as well as the release of detainees, the non-pursuit of former opposition members and the establishment of local militias to protect the area. Russia also pledged to remove Iranian militia groups from the Jordanian and occupied Golan Heights borders.

Iran has long sought to penetrate southern Syria, as the region has both political and strategic importance given its location next to the Jordanian border, through which Iranian militias are attempting to expand drug trafficking operations towards the Arab Gulf states. Its location overlooking the occupied Golan Heights is also regarded as a way to put pressure on Israel.



Surprise and Confusion as Young People Sign Up in Droves

Abu Muhammad is a member of the Central Committee in Daraa: a civil entity that comprises former opposition leaders, tribal leaders and civil society. The group is working to complete negotiations with the regime in Daraa governorate.

"The western Daraa countryside,” he tells IranWire, “was on the brink of a fierce war between the Daraa rebels on the one hand, and the Fourth Division and the Iranian-backed militias on the other.”

This conflict was catalysed by the killing of nine members of the Syrian regime's internal security forces in March in the town of Al-Muzayrib, west of Daraa, by men accused of being ISIS members. The killings proved to be a turning point in the fate of the region. The Assad regime threatened to storm and take control of Daraa, heralding the collapse of the settlement agreement, which provides opposition factions with a modicum of freedom and some light to medium weaponry with which to manage the territory.

Then Syrian regime then mobilized a large military presence in Daraa, signalling its intent to follow through with the threat. To put a stop to the incursion, the Central Committee met with leaders in the regime’s military and security services as well as Russia-backed factions, hoping to reach a new accord. Despite having denied the killing of the nine men, it promised to keep pursuing "ISIS cells in the area."

Abu Muhammad told IranWire: "Negotiations with the Fourth Division represented by Major General Ali Mahmoud continued for around a month, resulting in some options that would satisfy all parties: namely, an end to the incursions and the deployment of members of the Fourth Division throughout the western countryside, without erecting barriers on public roads, as well as pursuing ISIS cells and extraditing any person involved in hostilities against the Syrian regime's forces or institutions.”

He added: "We were surprised that these recruitment centers were established in the region to attract young people to join the Fourth Division. These centers included the Al-Sa'iqah in Al-Muzayrib, and the Zayzoun Camp west of Daraa."

According to Abu Muhammad, these centers have recruited approximately 2,700 new fighters – young people who have either defected from the regime’s forces or are there for military service, in some cases on behalf of security forces in the region.

"Young men want to obtain a military badge and a monthly salary by agreeing to join the Fourth Division,” he explains. “However, all of the promises made to them were lies."

Ahmad Abu Marouf, a young man who joined the Fourth Division, has some light to shed on this. “I presented my identification papers to the recruitment office in Al-Sa'iqah camp in the town of Muzayrib, which belongs to the Fourth Division," he told IranWire, “due to the ‘incentives’ it was offering to young people: protection from any security branch prosecutions, securing good status in Daraa, and assurances they would not be pushed onto battlefronts in Idlib and Al-Badiyah – and in addition, a salary that would be sufficient for themselves and their families.”

On June 20 this year, the Fourth Division invited those who had applied to join its ranks to a meeting at a school in the town of Nahij, west of Daraa, which Abu Marouf attended alongside more than 700 other defectors from the regime's forces.

"We were surprised that there was a military committee composed of a military judge and officers from several security branches,” he said, “among them Brigadier Ghiath Dallah from the Fourth Division, Brigadier General Luay Al-Ali, head of military security in Daraa, and a number of others.

"Defectors were brought before the committee and given a document guaranteeing that no security agency would pursue them. We were then transferred to the military divisions that we would be part of. However, this angered everyone, so we left the school in rejection of this lie."



A Unified Body to Counter Iranian Expansion

Abu Sufyan Al-Hourani, another member of the Central Committee in Daraa, told IranWire: "Over the past three months we have worked to form a military and political body in Houran to stand against Iranian expansion and the militias loyal to it."

He stressed that the Russian side has allowed them to open recruitment to the Eighth Brigade of the Fifth Corps on June 8, and has instructed sub-central committees in the villages and towns of Houran to receive would-be recruits’ applications. "Applications were received from around 20,000 new recruits,” Al-Hourani added.

Urabi, a former fighter in the ranks of the opposition who joined the Fifth Corps in the summer of 2018, said: "We were trained in the Salma camps in the northern Latakia countryside. During the training I noticed the degree of attention, care, and protection that the Russians gave to [Fifth] Corps members."

Urabi received a monthly salary from the Syrian Army that amounted to SYP 50,000 (US$20 according to the exchange rate of SYP 2550 to the dollar), in addition to a $200 monthly stipend from the Eighth Brigade's offices in Busra al-Sham.

"Our tasks include erecting military barriers at the entry ways into the eastern Daraa countryside,” he told IranWire, “and protecting the region from foreign elements such as ISIS, Hezbollah, and the Iran-backed militias."

Recently, members of the Fifth Corps in Busra Al-Sham have been subject to several targeted attacks involving either with explosive devices or individual assassinations. The most recent incident, which took place on June 20, involved the bombing of a bus belonging to the Fifth Corps in the town of Kahil, east of Daraa, which killed nine fighters and wounded others.

Urabi accused Lebanese Hezbollah of being behind the operation. In his view, "This bombing was in response to the Fifth Corps' attempts to recruit new members in Daraa, making it a great danger to the Iranian expansion project in southern Syria."



Competing or Complementing Each Other?

Prior to the signing of the settlement agreement in summer 2018, Russia had made a pledge to the United States, Jordan, and Israel to keep Iranian militias 50km away from both the Jordanian border and that of the occupied Golan Heights. However, this has not happened.

Brigadier Ibrahim Al-Jabawi, an opposition Syrian military analyst residing in Jordan, told IranWire: "The two parties to the conflict in southern Syria are Iran, represented by the Fourth Division, and Russia, represented by the Eighth Brigade of the Fifth Corps. We can call it a conflict between occupiers."

The south of Syria is of great importance to Iran as access to the Jordanian border constitutes the southern gateway into the Arabian Gulf, and therefore, fulfilment of Iran's expansionist dream. The south is also considered the gateway to the Israeli border. The Russians, on the other hand, seek to consolidate their bases and interests in the Arab region, preventing Iran from occupying the area and keeping it away from the arena competing for Syria, according to Al-Jabawi.

A former opposition military leader residing in north Daraa, who asked not to be named for security reasons, denied that there is any "Russian-Iranian conflict" in the governorate, stating that what is happening is "complementarity and an exchange of roles."

They added: "In the first months of the agreement, the Russians were able to remove Iranian militias from the borders in accordance with the agreement. But after a few months the Russians allowed Iran to penetrate through its local branches – but to a limit, and under their watchful eye."

He also accused Russia of exploiting the "Iranian issue" in southern Syria " to put pressure on neighboring states and achieve their goals," stating that if Russia was serious about stopping Iran's limited incursions, it would have allowed the expansion of the Fifth Corps in southern Syria and supported the young men in joining it. He further stressed that only the people of the region can curb the Iranian incursions.

Ismail Al-Masalmah, a journalist with the local media organization Naba, said: "Russia and Iran are seeking to recruit members to serve their interests only. Russia seeks to take in the largest number of young men to later push them into fighting in Libya, while Iran seeks to recruit members to achieve its foreign affairs agenda in terms of expansion and demographic change."

"These countries are exploiting the security situation of the young men in Daraa who seek to protect themselves by joining military formations or else be subject to arrest by security branches or assassination – as has been the case for many Daraa rebels in recent days."

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Personal note: Hot Zone remains HOT! I don't know the history of this hostility but I can say its been awful to watch and see all the carnage from these conflicts. Peace on Earth
must be impracticable in area of the world!

Boats
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Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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