It was a memorial for the “martyrs” killed when the US struck navy bases in Syria, based on Iranian state tv.
A small crowd sat in rows of folding chairs, males in entrance and ladies in again, on the foremost cemetery in Tehran, the Iranian capital, earlier this month. Youngsters milled about and a younger man handed a field of sweets. A person recited prayers by a microphone.
However the 12 fallen weren’t Iranian. They have been Afghans, based on different troopers and native media studies, a part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, a largely missed drive that dates again to the peak of the Syrian civil struggle a decade in the past. To assist President Bashar al-Assad of Syria defeat insurgent forces and Islamic State terrorists, Iran on the time started recruiting 1000’s of Afghan refugees to battle, providing $500 a month, tuition for his youngsters and Iranian residence.
The brigade remains to be believed to be round 20,000 sturdy, drawn from Afghan refugees dwelling principally in Iran, and serves beneath the command of the Quds Power, the abroad arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Iran's Guardian-affiliated media and social media platforms devoted to Fatemiyoun printed the names and images of the slain Afghans and mentioned they have been killed in US strikes in Iraq and Syria. The US strikes have been carried out in retaliation for a January drone assault on a navy base in Jordan that killed three US troopers. The USA blamed an Iran-backed militia based mostly in Iraq for the assault.
Publicly, Iranian officers have denied that any navy personnel linked to Iran have been among the many casualties. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, informed the UN Safety Council days after the US assaults that Iran had no connection to the bases attacked in Iraq and Syria. He accused the US of falsely accusing Iran and mentioned solely civilians have been killed.
The Guards didn’t problem a press release acknowledging the deaths of Afghans beneath their command as they normally do when Iranian forces are killed, nor did any officer threaten to avenge the deaths.
The story of the Afghan casualties, nevertheless, emerged from a minimum of 4 cities throughout Iran – Tehran, Shiraz, Qum and Mashhad – the place the our bodies of Afghans have been quietly repatriated to their households, based on photographs and movies. on Iranian media.
On the funeral processions, the Sardis of the Afghans have been draped in inexperienced fabric, however carried the flag of no nation. Within the cities of Mashhad, Qum and Shiraz, they have been taken to spiritual shrines for blessings.
Some mourners carried the yellow flag of the Fatemiyoun Brigade with its emblem. Native officers, clergy and a consultant of the Revolutionary Guards and members of the Afghan refugee neighborhood attended a number of the funerals, based on photographs and movies. Two boys carrying matching pink jackets, their hair in ponytails, wailed at their father's coffin at one other funeral on the outskirts of Tehran.
“There’s a rising anxiousness amongst Afghans who’ve been killed and Iran just isn’t defending them and giving up their martyrs to guard their pursuits,” mentioned Hossein Ehsani, an knowledgeable on militants and terrorist actions within the Center East. who’s afghan and grew up. as a refugee in Iran. “They really feel they’re getting used as cannon fodder.”
Iran's mission to the UN didn’t reply to a query that Mr. Iravani, the UN ambassador, was conscious of the Fatemiyoun victims when he spoke to the Safety Council.
Afghans, together with fighters for the Quds Power, have expressed anger and frustration over Iran's dealing with of those deaths, posting messages virtually day by day on a social media channel devoted to the Fatemiyoun voices. Some members questioned the silence of the Quds Power, calling it discrimination.
Among the many males killed have been two senior commanders who have been shut allies of slain former Quds Power commander Main Basic Qassim Suleimani, based on Iranian media studies and images of them collectively on the Syrian battlefield. They have been recognized as Seyed Ali Hosseini and Seyed Hamzeh Alavi.
Mr. Suleimani was assassinated by the USA in 2020 in Iraq.
A lot of the Afghans who fled to Iran through the years have been Hazaras, one of many largest ethnic teams of their nation who share the Shiite Muslim religion with most Iranians.
At house in Afghanistan, the Hazaras have been among the many pure allies of US forces as a result of they share frequent enemies within the Taliban and Al Qaeda. However in at the moment's convoluted Center East panorama, they’re now aligned with Iran and in search of to drive American forces out of the area.
In Syria, the Fatemiyoun drive was typically the primary line of protection within the battle in opposition to ISIS and was extensively credited with serving to to retake a number of Syrian cities. Iran's state-run newspaper mentioned final week that a minimum of 3,000 members of the drive have been killed in Syria through the years. The USA designated Fatemiyoun as a terrorist group in 2019.
A former member of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Afghan who was born and raised in Iran and has been deployed to Syria 3 times, mentioned he was drawn to the drive as a result of it supplied a chance to flee poverty and unemployment in Iran and to acquire a authorized standing.
Asking that his title not be printed for concern of retribution, he mentioned many fighters have been additionally united by the need to guard Shiite Islam and defeat an extremist Sunni drive much like those that persecuted Hazaras in Afghanistan.
One other Afghan refugee, Mohamad, a 31-year-old Hazara Shiite and former navy officer in Afghanistan who fled to Iran when the Taliban took over the nation, mentioned in a cellphone interview that he had a grasp's diploma however labored in development. Afghans even have to fret a couple of rising crackdown on undocumented migrants and threats of deportation, he mentioned.
“Considered one of my Afghan buddies who’s from my hometown informed me he desires to hitch Fatemiyoun out of sheer monetary desperation and concern of being despatched again to Afghanistan,” mentioned Mohamad, who requested that his final title not be used. not used for concern of reprisals. . “We’re caught, with no manner ahead and no manner again.”
Analysts say there isn’t a proof that Fatemiyoun forces have been straight concerned in assaults in opposition to US bases in Iraq and Syria, which the Pentagon says have been focused greater than 160 occasions by Iran-backed proxies because the begin of the Israel-Hamas struggle in October. . However the Fatemiyoun Brigade performs a big function in serving to Iran coordinate floor logistics for the community of militias it helps, funds and weapons throughout the area.
The Fatemiyoun forces oversee bases that function key levels within the provide chain of weapons, together with drones, missile components and know-how, that journey from Iran to Iraq after which to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon, based on analysts and an affiliated navy strategist. with the Guards, who requested to not be recognized as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly.
“When the broader Syrian battle froze a number of years in the past, there was an expectation that Fatemiyoun would go house, dissolve and demobilize,” mentioned Charles Lister, the director of the Syria and Counter-Terrorism and Extremism applications. on the Center East Institute in Washington. “However they broke into the broader regional community and located a task to play – holding the bottom, coordinating logistics and wider coordination on the bottom.”
US fighter jets destroyed the bottom the place the Fatemiyouns have been killed in Deir al-Zour, jap Syria, abandoning a pile of rubble, mutilated bricks and particles, based on {a photograph} printed on the Saberin Information web site, affiliated with and Iranian proxy militias.
Main Basic Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to remark particularly on US strikes killing Afghan fighters for Iran. However he mentioned the strikes have been carried out to carry the Guard and its proxies accountable and that “preliminary indications are that greater than 40 militants related to Iranian proxy teams have been killed or injured.”
Iranian commanders and key personnel have been evacuated from the bases in anticipation of the US strikes because the Biden administration signaled for almost per week that the assaults have been pending. However the Afghans stay on the base, mentioned an Iranian official affiliated with the Guards, including that the navy bases can’t be deserted.
On the funeral for 5 of the Afghans, together with the 2 senior commanders, Hojatolislam Alireza Panahian, a distinguished conservative cleric, informed mourners that the enemy was “dumb” for killing weak Afghans.
“They’re martyrs with out borders, and jihadists for Islam and the resistance entrance.”
Eric Schmidt contributed report from Washington.
