DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – After being threatened frequently by a non-Syrian commander of an Iranian-backed militia and for fear of being arrested, al-Abd was forced to leave his house in Deir ez-Zor, east Syria, and move to areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Muhammad al-Abd, a pseudonym for a resident of the town of Abu Kamal in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, relocated to the city of Hajin, said, “An Iraqi commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forced me to leave my house after accusing me of giving information about their headquarters, which is located near my house.”
Iranian-backed militias continue committing human rights violations against civilians in areas under their control in Deir ez-Zor. They commit appropriation of property by confiscating civilian houses under false pretenses, then turning them to either military headquarters or houses to settle families of their foreign or Arab militants.
Al-Abd told North Press, “The IRGC warned me multiple times to evacuate my house because it was close to one of their headquarters in the town of al-Sukariya west of Abu Kamal.”
He refused several times, but the IRGC’s Iraqi officers threatened him that in case their headquarters was attacked, he would be the first suspect.
“The next day, the militants shot randomly towards my house under the pretext of being under attack, which prompted me to leave the house,” he added.
He later found out that the Iraqi commander settled his family in the house after al-Abd and his family left.
The Iranian-backed militias forcefully turn the houses of civilians in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, particularly in al-Mayadin and Abu Kamal, to security headquarters, taking advantage of the absence of their owners or the involvement of some in other military groups, in addition seizing the houses by force.
They justify their practices by several charges, accusing owners of either joining the Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), the SDF, or the Islamic State (ISIS).
During the early days of Syria’s civil war, Iran teamed up to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and sent military consultants, through which it increased the size of its military presence in different Syrian regions.
According to activists in Abu Kamal, the Iranian-backed Liwa Fatemiyoun, Hashemiyoun, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba militias “seized over 200 houses in Abu Kamal and its countryside since the beginning of 2023, particularly in al-Sukariya, and villages of al-Salihiyah and al-Hamdan.”
Ragheb al-Salem, 50, from the Tamo neighborhood on the southern part of al-Mayadin, 40 km east of Deir ez-Zor, said, “Most of the people in the neighborhood are foreign militants of the IRGC, especially Afghans.”
He stressed that the original inhabitants live in rented houses in other neighborhoods “because they were accused of several charges to force them out of their houses.”
Al-Salem owns a shop for selling dessert in his neighborhood with four apartments, belonging to him and his three brothers in Gulf States, above it. He was forced to evacuate the building and the shop after an IRGC patrol notified him to do so. He had no choice but to comply.
He said, “The next day, they brought workers and equipment and removed walls to make the apartments one in order to access easily from one to another. Then they brought weapons and logistics to the building and raised the Syrian flag above, forcing me to close my shop and move out of the town.”
The IRGC militias confiscate the civilians houses that are distant from their posts to be used as hideouts in case their posts are bombed, according to locals.
The town of al-Mayadin has almost become a military “colony” for the IRGC. The original people are located in few neighborhoods scattered on the outskirts of the town, especially after the region has become a destination for “Shiite pilgrims” since it contains their largest shrine, the Ain Ali shrine.
Al-Mayadin connects Deir ez-Zor and Abu Kamal, making most of the IRGC militants prefer to live there with their families.
Earlier, the IRGC seized five buildings in the al-Jumiyat neighborhood in the center of Abu Kamal and turned them into military posts. Later, unidentified aircrafts bombed and destroyed the buildings.
IRGC was created after Iran’s 1979 revolution to protect the new Islamic regime, the IRGC has become one of the most powerful paramilitary organizations in the Middle East. It has provided assistance to militant groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria, and Yemen. Its control over large sectors of the Iranian economy helps it fund its activities.
The Syrian Desert covers nearly half of the area of Syria, and is distributed over the governorates of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Rif Dimashq, Suwayda and Palmyra.
Iranian-backed militias and the government forces control large areas of the Syrian Desert and the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which constitutes a source of concern as it witnesses intensive operations by the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) sleeper cells.