By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-09-30

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has recently intensified training for members of its affiliated militias in Syria's Deir Ezzor province, activists said.

Military training has been going on for some time, overseen by the IRGC and Lebanese Hizbullah, Syrian activist Ammar Saleh told Al-Fassel.

"What is different about these training activities, in addition to their intensity, is that they include artillery and missile firing training in addition to training on the use of drones," he said.

Missile, artillery and drone training used to take place in relatively remote desert areas away from civilians, Saleh said, "but currently it is taking place in [Syrian] regime-controlled areas in southern Deir Ezzor province."

Training has been observed near the Syrian regime's 137th Brigade headquarters and also in Hizbullah-controlled al-Talae encampment, which the IRGC has used to train members of the Fatemiyoun Division.

There is a heavy militia presence in Deir Ezzor city's al-Sinaa (industrial) district, the Harabish district at its eastern entrance, and the old military airport area, "which the militias use to move by helicopter to and from Damascus," he added.

A recent wave of recruitment activity "confirms Iran's interest in reinforcing its position in Deir Ezzor province with personnel and weapons," he said, adding that the heightened activities "spread terror among civilians."

Danger afoot

"Iran is continuing its plan to spread tension in the Middle East," Syrian lawyer Bashir al-Bassam told Al-Fassel. "After Gaza and Lebanon, it is preparing to open a new front in Syria."

The conduct of live weapons training near the eastern bank of the Euphrates, where international coalition forces are deployed, "is an extremely provocative act that could lead at any moment to an unexpected confrontation," he said.

Recent heightened militia activity "is accompanied by a new wave of seizures of civilian homes in the city of Deir Ezzor and its environs, coinciding with the evacuation of many headquarters," al-Bassam said.

Militiamen are relocating into residential areas out of fear being targeted, he said, but in so doing are putting civilians at risk.

"To silence civilians, they entice them with money in exchange for their sons joining the militias," he added.

IRGC collaborators -- led by Nawaf al-Bashir, who heads the al-Baqir Brigade, a Hizbullah-trained tribal IRGC affiliate -- are facilitating these efforts.

"There is a dangerous matter taking place in the vicinity of Deir Ezzor city and al-Mayadeen, namely the stepped up entry of Iraqi militia elements and their deployment in various areas," al-Bassam said.