JEDDAH: Iran has shown that it will resort to any tool to prop up the Assad regime, including the increasing recruitment of Afghan men and children to fight in Syria, Iranian-American political scientist Majid Rafizadeh told Arab News on Saturday.
He was reacting to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report that more than 2,000 Afghans deployed by Iran have been killed fighting in Syria for the Assad regime.
The Fatemiyoun Brigade of Afghan recruits has been fighting in Syria for five years, Zohair Mojahed, a cultural official in the volunteer force, told Iranian media.
Rafizadeh said two Iranian organizations are behind the recruitment: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Quds Force.
“The Iranian regime preys on vulnerable people such as immigrant or poor families,” he said, adding that Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently described Tehran’s recruitment of Afghan children as “a grave violation of international law.”
Mojahed told Iran’s reformist Shargh newspaper that the Fatemiyoun Brigade “has given more than 2,000 martyrs and 8,000 wounded for Islam.”
His description of mercenaries as “martyrs” drew a sharp rebuke from Syrian opposition spokesman Yahya Al-Aridi, who told Arab News that they are Iran’s “hired guns” who did not die for Islam.
“These Afghans are originally refugees in Iran. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, they took refuge in Iran and they’re being sent to Syria by Tehran to kill Syrians,” Al-Aridi said, adding that Islam is not a religion of violence, as is being wrongly portrayed by Mojahed.
“They died to implement vicious and cunning Iranian plots. Those mercenaries are killed by Syrians who are defending themselves, their land and their children,” Al-Aridi said.
Iran takes them to Syria and puts them on the frontline in order to invade Syrian territory and kill Syrians, he added.
“Many of them were captured by Syrian freedom fighters, and they confessed to being paid by Iran $200 to $500 for their families in Afghanistan,” he said. “Iran doesn’t care whether they’re killed or stay alive.”
Afghan mercenaries being sent to Syria part of ‘vicious Iranian plot’
Afghan mercenaries being sent to Syria part of ‘vicious Iranian plot’
UN chief condemns Israeli law blocking electricity, water for UNRWA facilities
- The agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a move by Israel to ban electricity or water to facilities owned by the UN Palestinian refugee agency, a UN spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the move would “further impede” the agency’s ability to operate and carry out activities.
“The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations remains applicable to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), its property and assets, and to its officials and other personnel. Property used by UNRWA is inviolable,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said while adding that UNRWA is an “integral” part of the world body.
UNRWA Commissioner General Phillipe Lazzarini also condemned the move, saying that it was part of an ongoing “ systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and thereby obstruct” the role it plays in providing assistance to Palestinian refugees.
In 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the agency from operating in the country and prohibiting officials from having contact with the agency.
As a result, UNRWA operates in East Jerusalem, which the UN considers territory occupied by Israel. Israel considers all Jerusalem to be part of the country.
The agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to be disbanded, with its responsibilities transferred to other UN agencies.
The prohibition of basic utilities to the UN agency came as Israel also suspended of dozens of international non-governmental organizations working in Gaza due to a failure to meet new rules to vet those groups.
In a joint statement, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom said on Tuesday such a move would have a severe impact on the access of essential services, including health care. They said one in three health care facilities in Gaza would close if international NGO operations stopped.
