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Where Is Assad Getting His Fighters From? (It's Not Just Lebanon and Iraq)
National Interest ^ | January 2, 2018 | Colin P. ClarkePhillip Smyth

Posted on 01/23/2018 7:12:16 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster

Where Is Assad Getting His Fighters From? (It's Not Just Lebanon and Iraq)

Colin P. ClarkePhillip Smyth

January 2, 2018

In early December, senior Trump administration officials suggested that approximately 80 percent of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s defense against insurgents in the country’s ongoing civil war is being provided by forces imported from outside of the country. The lion’s share of these fighters is being trained and equipped by Iran, the Assad regime’s most ardent supporter.

Interestingly, however, these foreign fighters, almost of all which are Shia Muslims, are not merely comprised of Lebanese and Iraqis, but include significant numbers of militants from South Asia—mainly Afghanistan and Pakistan—which adds an entirely new dimension to Syria’s ongoing civil war, now entering its seventh year.

As the civil war in Syria drags on, the Assad regime has been plagued by casualties and desertions. Many of its fighters have been killed or injured on the battlefield and to make up for these manpower shortages, the regime has looked to Iran to help recruit new fighters. Iran has been able to leverage the sectarian nature of the conflict in Syria to help rally Afghans living in Iran as refugees, of which there are approximately three million.

The Afghan fighters belong to a division known as Liwa Fatemiyoun, which is under the command and control of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and according to official Iranian sources, numbers between 10,000 to 12,000 fighters. Many of these militants have experienced major combat action in Syria in Aleppo, Deraa, Damascus, Latakia and the Qalamoun region. Some reports indicate that hundreds have already died fighting in Syria.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; bombbombbombbombiran; erdogan; friendlyfire; friendslikethese; hassannasrallah; hazara; hezbollah; iran; iraq; israel; jerusalem; jihad; kurdistan; lebanon; letshavejerusalem; liwafatemiyoun; pakistan; paleolibs; pressgang; putinsbuttboys; receptayyiperdogan; russia; syria; thethreeamigos; turkey; waronterror; worldwideterrorists
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To: MrEdd

Almost every statement about Syria by US government officials since the war started has been a lie.

Obviously, way more than 20% of the pro-government forces are Syrians.

The Afghan fighters trained by Iran were terrible BTW, even by the standards of Muslim irregulars.


21 posted on 01/23/2018 11:05:05 AM PST by WatchungEagle
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To: SecAmndmt

I was being.

I still stand by the assessment I made then.

As to my detractors at the time, well, I looked at the numb nuts assertion many of those same folks had made regarding the possibility of accomplishing anything in Iraq without an implacable and brutal supression of sharia law and dismissed them.


22 posted on 01/23/2018 4:15:15 PM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: MrEdd

Well, hat’s off to you for standing your ground FRiend


23 posted on 01/23/2018 8:23:32 PM PST by SecAmndmt (Arm yourselves!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

https://www.voanews.com/a/xinjiang-to-create-a-border-to-keep-away-militants/4219797.html
“China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang will build a “Great Wall” around its borders to prevent the infiltration of militants from outside the country... Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years in violence between Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language, and ethnic majority Han Chinese, especially in the heavily Uighur southern part of Xinjiang.

China blames the violence in Xinjiang on Islamist extremists and separatists, some of whom it says have links to groups outside the country.”

“Welcome to the party”, China.


24 posted on 01/23/2018 8:41:18 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: mrsmith
China could pay a price for befriending and nurturing Pakistan, the Jihadi haven. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the natural launch sites for Jihadi incursion into China.
25 posted on 01/23/2018 9:11:06 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster (dead parakeet + lost fishing gear = freep all day)
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To: Texas Fossil

Assad has an agreement with the Kurds. Basically he lets them keep Rojava while he concentrates on main Syria - the coastal and city region from Damascus to Aleppo. He will destroy the jihadis in the north and west and leave the desert areas to the east of Palmyra to the Sunnis.


26 posted on 03/13/2018 12:07:11 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Texas Fossil; marron

Alawites are actually crypto-Christians in origin. They celebrate a form of mass, believe in a Trinity and have other beliefs that indicate they must have originated as Christians who tried to hide their beliefs under the Fatimids and took on the exterior look of Muslims. Later they associated with Shias as Shia allow a lot of flexibility in beliefs — REALLY! Shia Iran is a lot more flexible than Sunni Saudia or Pakistan or other Sunni places


27 posted on 03/13/2018 12:12:17 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos

Shia Iran is not flexible about sustaining control. They will never share power. They will never allow Democracy to exist.

They may allow the illusion of freedom, but will never actually tolerate it.


28 posted on 03/13/2018 7:31:38 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Texas Fossil

They allow a lot more democracy than the Saudis do.


29 posted on 03/13/2018 7:36:06 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos

Agree on Saudi’s, but there are signs of that changing somewhat.

In reality, old alliances like with Turkey or Saudi Arabia have a value, but only until they outlive that value by the cost of association. (not just financial, but also cultural and religious).


30 posted on 03/13/2018 7:41:36 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Texas Fossil
My opinion is that the alliance with Saudia has brought nothing but pain. It should have been cut off in 1990 with the end of the Soviet Union.

With Turkey it has turned sour since Erdogan

I'm not proposing an alliance with Iran - keep the same pressure on them, what I am proposing is an end to any dalliance with the Sauds. No more American troops protecting Saudia interests.

And as for Turkey, time to cut them off from NATO.

31 posted on 03/13/2018 11:28:28 PM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos

Largely agree.


32 posted on 03/14/2018 7:52:21 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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