By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-05-17

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been exploiting the state of financial ruin many are facing in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor to recruit youth from the region into affiliated cells, experts told Al-Fassel.

These new cells are tasked with carrying out the IRGC's orders, which include controlling Euphrates river crossings used by smugglers and carrying out attacks on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

"IRGC cells are notably active during this period in recruiting youth from Deir Ezzor," Iranian affairs researcher Sheyar Turko told Al-Fassel.

They offer them incentives such as protection for those wanted by the Syrian regime for various reasons, including failure to report for mandatory military service.

Recruitment operations target unemployed youth who are in dire straits, Turko said, and have "begun to take on the aspect of coercion."

He noted that the IRGC has a history of ideological indoctrination, and has long pushed the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist), which calls for allegiance to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.

Winning over Syrian tribes

In addition to exploiting poverty and unemployment, the IRGC is pursuing a parallel plan to win over Syrian tribes, said Iranian affairs specialist Fathi al-Sayed of the Middle East Center for Regional and Strategic Studies.

"In the beginning, they sought to win over the tribes and clans in Aleppo," he told Al-Fassel. "After that succeeded, the plan was replicated in the eastern desert (Badiya) and Deir Ezzor province."

By gaining the support of local tribes, the IRGC hopes to exert further influence in the region, and specifically to control the Euphrates river crossings, he said.

It also hopes to push tribal forces and newly recruited cell members to clash with the majority-Kurdish SDF and to turn public opinion against them.

The attempt to win over the tribes started with al-Bakara tribe in Aleppo in 2014, "when the al-Baqer Brigade was established, which is considered the strongest tribal group loyal to the IRGC," al-Sayed said.

This was replicated in the Euphrates region and Deir Ezzor, where an agreement was reached with al-Akidat tribal leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Hafel, taking advantage of his personal hostility towards the Kurdish forces.

The large and powerful Hashemite Tribes Regiment, Abnaa al-Jazeera wal Furat movement, the Arab Tribal and Clan Forces and Usoud al-Akidat Brigade are all linked to al-Hafel by blood.

But some tribes continue to refuse to cooperate with the newly created Iranian cells, al-Sayed said.