KABUL: An Afghan soldier who is killed in action gets barely enough compensation to cover the funeral expense. A wounded soldier receives far less.
But the package Iran offers Afghans to fight in Syria is far more attractive: Permanent residency for the deceased’s family, accommodation and several years of monetary support for the household. A wounded Afghan mercenary receives more or less the same.
This attracts desperate and jobless Afghan refugees in Iran, as well as many in Afghanistan, to fight in support of the Syrian regime.
The main source of recruitment in Afghanistan is the peaceful yet impoverished parts of the central highlands with a predominantly Shiite population.
Some 700,000 Afghans reportedly live illegally in Iran, besides nearly a million registered refugees. This collectively provides Tehran with a breeding ground for recruitment.
Abdul Hameed, 19-year-old school graduate from Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province, fought in Syria.
Jobless and frustrated at home, he went to Iran in 2012 aged 14 and managed to get a job. But after working for a year as a laborer, he became jobless again and his savings ran out.
The war in Syria was at its peak in 2014, and a group of Afghans serving Iran’s government gave him an offer to go to Syria, which he accepted without hesitation.
“The proposal was approximately $300 a month, permanent residency in Iran and other concessions depending on whether I’d die, get injured or return safe,” Hameed told Arab News.
“We were sent by plane from Iran to Syria and settled in Aleppo. The process of recruitment isn’t compulsory. Iran doesn’t force you to go to Syria.”
In Aleppo, Hameed met fighters from other Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Iraq and Lebanon. Separate camps were designated for each country, he said.
“The Afghans were called Fatemiyun, the Pakistanis were named Zainebiyun, and the Iraqis were called Haidaris. There were 12 Iranian commanders who provided training or gave commands.”
Before joining the battlefield, the recruits undergo training involving small and heavy weaponry, as well as land mines, said Hameed.
That would be followed by a short trip to Iran, then back to Syria to face groups such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
“They’re beheading people and destroying our (Shiite) mosques and holy places. I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Hameed said. Fighters from Pakistan travel overland to Iran and are then flown to Syria, he added.
Hameed’s time in Syria came to an end when one night, a large number of Afghan fighters came under sudden attack from militants.
“There was a massive attack against us. We couldn’t resist. Some 200 Afghans died that night alone,” he said.
“Me and 30 others were injured and taken to hospital in Syria, then transferred to a hospital in Iran for a month.”
After his recovery Hameed stayed in Iran for three months, but then returned home to his family, who were completely unaware of his trip to Syria.
“I was given a 10-year residency permit in Iran, but I declined it and returned home last year,” he said. Hameed has a baby now, but is jobless again.
An Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Arab News: “This is a highly sensitive issue. If the government give figures and comments, Daesh will turn its attention toward Afghanistan, viewing it as the ground from where Shiites go to Syria to fight them.”
Daesh’s affiliates in Afghanistan have frequently targeted Shiite congregations and mosques in recent years.
There is no public record of when Iran began recruiting Afghans or how many have been recruited.
But Waheed Mozhad, an Afghan analyst and writer, said the number of fighters who have gone back and forth is around 10,000, and recruitment began in 2013.
Safora, a female lawmaker from Bamiyan, said some Shiite clergy in Afghanistan have aided recruitment.
“Poverty and desolation have forced people from central areas of Afghanistan to go to Syria,” she told Arab News.
“We’re totally against it, but people need food and other necessities for their families, so they go for it,” she said.
“I know people from different provinces who lost their sons in the war in Syria. I know some families who went to Iran, to get a house and other concessions promised by Tehran, after they lost a family member in Syria,” she added.
“Unfortunately, the Afghan government has done nothing to stop this recruitment or confront Tehran over the issue.”
Poverty, religious fervor push Afghans to join Iran’s war in Syria
Poverty, religious fervor push Afghans to join Iran’s war in Syria
Kurdish fighters in Syria face dual threats
- Suppressed for decades, the Kurds took advantage of the weakness of Bashar Assad’s government during the civil war
- But with the rise of the new authority following his ouster, they are left navigating a complex and uncertain future
BEIRUT: Kurdish fighters in northern Syria are increasingly under pressure from Turkish-backed armed groups while also fearing the new authorities in Damascus will upend their hard-won autonomy.
Suppressed for decades, the Kurds took advantage of the weakness of Bashar Assad’s government during the civil war, but with the rise of the new authority following his ouster, they are left navigating a complex and uncertain future.
As Islamist-led militants pressed their lightning 12-day offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, Turkish-backed fighters began a parallel operation against Kurdish-led forces in the north.
They quickly seized Tal Rifaat and Manbij, two key Kurdish-held areas in a 30-kilometer (17-mile) stretch along the Turkish border where Ankara wants to establish a so-called “security zone.”
Following a wave of fighting, a US-brokered truce took hold on December 11, although Kurdish forces say it has not been respected by Turkish forces in the area nor their proxies.
Kurdish fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which was formed in 2015 and is seen as the Kurds’ de facto army.
The SDF spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group militants in Syria in 2019 and is still seen by the US as a “crucial” to prevent a militant resurgence in the area.
They have warned about a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, which has become a symbol of the fight against IS.
On Tuesday, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi proposed setting up a “demilitarized zone” in Kobani under US supervision.
There are also US troops in Syria as part of an international coalition against the militants, whose numbers doubled earlier this year to around 2,000, the Pentagon said Thursday.
As well as relying on pro-Turkish fighters, Ankara has between 16,000 to 18,000 troops in northern Syria, Turkish officials say, indicating they are ready for deployment “east of the Euphrates” if Kurdish fighters don’t disarm.
But Turkiye’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan on Wednesday said there would be no need for Ankara to intervene if the new government was to “address this issue properly.”
Observers say Ankara wants to take advantage of the Syrian upheaval to push Kurdish forces away from the border zone, seeing them as “terrorists” over their ties with the PKK which has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
Since 2016, the Turkish military has launched several operations in northern Syria targeting the YPG (the People’s Protection Units), which makes up the bulk of the SDF.
Turkish troops have remained in a large stretch of land on the Syrian side of the border.
Syria’s Kurds have made several gestures of openness toward the new authorities in Damascus, fearing for the future of their autonomous region.
They have adopted three-starred independence flag used by the opposition that is now flying over Damascus, and said Wednesday they were canceling customs and other taxes on goods moving between their area and the rest of Syria.
HTS’ military chief Murhaf Abu Qasra, whose nom de guerre is Abu Hassan Al-Hamawi, said Tuesday Kurdish-held areas would be integrated under the new leadership because Syria “will not be divided.”
“The region currently controlled by the SDF will be integrated into the new administration of the country,” he said.
WFP says three staff killed in aerial bombardment in Sudan
ROME: The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Friday that three of its staff had been killed in an “aerial bombardment” in Sudan the previous day.
“WFP is outraged by the killing of three of its staff members in an aerial bombardment in Sudan on December 19, 2024,” the agency said in a statement on X.
“A WFP field office was hit during the attack. We are gathering more information and will provide updates as we learn more.”
A spokesman was unable to give more details when contacted by AFP.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The WFP on Thursday warned that Sudan risks becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis in recent history, with 1.7 million people across the country either facing famine or at risk of famine.
Turkiye will support Syria’s reconstruction, improve cooperation
- Turkish president says to intensify trade relations with Syria and Iraq ‘to bring new dynamism for both Syria and Turkiye in every respect’
ANKARA: Turkiye will do whatever necessary for the reconstruction of Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad, including improving ties in trade, energy and defense, President Tayyip Erdogan said.
“We will intensify our trade relations with Syria and Iraq. This will bring new dynamism for both Syria and Turkiye in every respect,” Erdogan said, according to a transcript of remarks he made to journalists on his return flight from Egypt.
“We will collaborate in many areas, from defense to education and energy. Syria currently faces serious energy issues. But we will swiftly address all of these problems.”
Palestinian officials accuse Israeli settlers of mosque arson in West Bank
- Attack targeted the Bir Al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda
- Settlers also vandalized the mosque’s walls with “racist graffiti” in Hebrew
NABLUS: Palestinian officials reported on Friday that Israeli settlers had set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank, an act Israeli police said was under investigation.
According to Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Salfit, the attack targeted the Bir Al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda.
“A group of settlers carried out an attack early this morning by setting fire to the mosque,” Kamil said in a statement.
In addition to the arson, the settlers vandalized the mosque’s walls with “racist graffiti” in Hebrew, he said.
Photographs shared on social media showed slogans spray-painted in black including “Death to Arabs.”
Villagers of Marda confirmed the details, with one resident telling AFP: “They set fire to the entrance of the mosque and wrote Hebrew slogans on its walls.”
Another resident said the fire was extinguished before it could engulf the entire structure.
An AFP photographer at the scene saw villagers gathering at the mosque to assess the extent of the damage.
Governor Kamil alleged that settlers had previously entered the village “under the protection of the Israeli army,” and that similar acts of vandalism and graffiti had been reported in nearby areas.
The Palestinian foreign ministry in Ramallah condemned the incident, calling it a “blatant act of racism” and a reflection of the ” widespread incitement campaigns against our people carried out by elements of the extremist right-wing ruling government” of Israel.
Israeli police and the domestic Shin Bet security agency described the incident as a matter of “great severity.”
They said they would “act decisively to ensure accountability for those responsible,” adding an investigation was underway, with authorities gathering testimony and evidence from the scene.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has intensified since the war in Gaza began on October 7 last year following Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Since the start of the war, at least 803 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In the same period, Palestinian attacks have claimed the lives of at least 24 Israelis in the West Bank, based on Israeli official data.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
US diplomats and hostage envoy in Syria on first visit since Assad ouster
- First group of American diplomats to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since the US shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012
WASHINGTON: The first US diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad’s ouster earlier this month are now in Damascus to hold talks with the country’s new leaders and seek information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, made the trip for talks with Syria’s interim leaders, the State Department said early Friday.
The team is also the first group of American diplomats to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since the US shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012.
“They will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them,” the State Department said.
At the top of their agenda will be information about Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012. And they will push the principles of inclusion, protection of minorities and a rejection of terrorism and chemical weapons that the Biden administration says will be critical for any US support for a new government.
The US has redoubled efforts to find Tice and return him home, saying officials have communicated with the rebels who ousted Assad’s government about the American journalist. Carstens traveled previously to Lebanon to seek information.
Tice, who has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus as the Syrian civil war intensified.
A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Assad’s government publicly denied that it was holding him.
The rebel group that spearheaded the assault on Damascus that forced Assad to flee — Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS — is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and others. While that designation comes with a raft of sanctions, it does not prohibit US officials from speaking to its members or leaders.
The State Department said Rubinstein, Leaf and Carstens would meet with HTS officials but did not say if the group’s leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with Al-Qaeda, would be among those they see.
US officials say Al-Sharaa’s public statements about protecting minority and women’s rights are welcomed, but they remain skeptical that he will follow through on them in the long run.
The US has not had a formal diplomatic presence in Syria since 2012, when it suspended operations at its embassy in Damascus during the country’s civil war, although there are US troops in small parts of Syria engaged in the fight against the Islamic State militant group.
The Pentagon revealed Thursday that the US had doubled the number of its forces in Syria to fight IS before Assad’s fall. The US also has significantly stepped up airstrikes against IS targets over concern that a power vacuum would allow the militant group to reconstitute itself.
The diplomats’ visit to Damascus will not result in the immediate reopening of the US embassy, which is under the protection of the Czech government, according to US officials, who said decisions on diplomatic recognition will be made when the new Syrian authorities make their intentions clear.
