The Iranian-backed Afghan Fatemiyoun militias in Deir Ezzor have reportedly begun moving their weapons, ammunition, and rockets to underground tunnels previously dug by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), better known by the pejorative term Daesh.

Since 2011, Iran’s regime has increased its presence in Syria, effectively occupying much of the country via the forces of its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and proxy sectarian militias from Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. The Fatemiyoun militia consists of Afghan refugees who fled to Iran, with most members being given the ‘choice’ of being returned to Afghanistan or sent to fight in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Fatemiyoun militia previously commandeered livestock farm buildings in Deir El Zour countryside for use as weapons depots, but these have suffered massive damages from repeated Israeli airstrikes.

Therefore, as Kurdish news site Bas News explained, the militia groups are now using the tunnels dug by Daesh as their makeshift weapons depots to hide them from future airstrikes.

The so-called Islamic Republic of Iran’s regime is backing the dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as well as proxies in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon as a means of attaining regional hegemony.

Original Bas News article, published on February 20, 2021: https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/670640