By Anas al-Bar | 2024-07-07

The Iranian regime is pressing ahead with an "ideological change" project in eastern Syria through which it intends to shore up its influence by winning over the hearts and minds of the local population, activists said.

The influence campaign is deliberately obliterating the religious identity of the Syrian population Iran seeks to control, they said, describing this as an unethical move that will have deep societal consequences.

In the most recent chapter of this project, a proliferation of sectarian graffiti has been spray-painted onto the buildings and walls of towns in Deir Ezzor province by the members of Iran-aligned militias, local residents told Al-Fassel.

It used to be that sectarian slogans appeared only on the walls of buildings used by militias controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) such as Kataib Hizbullah, the Fatemiyoun Division and the Zainabiyoun Brigade.

Sectarian graffiti have increased recently in most parts of al-Mayadeen, local resident Abu Abdullah al-Furati, 52, told Al-Fassel.

"We used to see it only in the 'security square' in the center of the town, which includes headquarters and houses that were seized by the militias years ago," he said.

"But now it is cropping up everywhere, especially on the walls of schools, administrative buildings, shop fronts and even private homes."

"Iran's proxies want to impose their hegemony by all means, and writing phrases with sectarian content is one of them," said a 30-year-old al-Mayadeen resident who gave just his first name, Ahmed.

"The militias act as if all the towns belong to them," he told Al-Fassel. "They write slogans and raise sectarian flags and pictures of Iranian leaders anywhere they want."

"Before that, they seized homes and property and turned mosques into centers to brainwash children with Iranian ideology."

Ideological change

"The wide-scale writing of sectarian graffiti is part of the Iranian project aimed at changing the religious identity of the people of Deir Ezzor," Al-Masdar Media Group director Nawras al-Arfi told Al-Fassel.

Iran's proxies "want to make the population accustomed to seeing these writings and all sectarian manifestations everywhere, so that they become gradually implanted in their minds and accepted by them," he said.

"Ideological change is continuing in various forms and ways and mainly targets the youth, as it is easy to manipulate their minds," he said.

Al-Arfi said "the militias use the carrot and stick method in dealing with the population and pushing it to accept and embrace" Iranian hegemony.

Those who embrace it receive "privileges and support," he said, but those who reject it face punishment.