Iranian presence threatens demographic structure: Syrian politicians
RAQQA, Syria (North press) – The Iranian presence in Syria and the practices it commits, threaten the demographic structure, and also herald an open war between Israel and Iran on the Syrian territory, politicians from Raqqa, north Syria, said on Thursday.
“The Iranian sectarian practices in Syria threaten the demographic structure in many different areas,” Jiyan Mella Mahmoud, member of the Relations Office of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), said.
Press reports cited observers saying that Iran is intending to increase its penetration in Syria through replacing its operatives. It also works to enhance its existence amidst the economic, cultural and social structures to formalize its different activities and movements in the Syrian government-held areas.
“Planting the sectarian seeds and focusing on changing the sect of the population in Iran-backed factions-held areas, is something serious and threatens the future of the Syrian social fabric,” Mella Mahmoud told North Press.
The politician noted to the Iranian-Israeli competition in Syria and the Israeli air strikes against the Iran’s military points that “threaten igniting an open war between the two parties on the Syrian territory.”
It is worth mentioning that Israel targets Iranian-backed militias’ positions and headquarters in Syria almost continuously.
Abdulrahman al-Issa, a politician and writer from Raqqa said that, in positioning itself in Syria before 2011, Iran followed a “soft policy” based on the implementation of some economic and social projects and the limited spread of the “Shiite” sect in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Raqqa.
Iran used the presence of shrines for “sacred” Shiites as a pretext for Persian cultural expansion in Syria, as the Syrian government was lenient with religious visits to these shrines, according to al-Issa.
Iran officially took the side with the Syrian government at the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. It announced sending the military advisors to support the government forces in fighting against the Syrian opposition factions.
Iran continues to recruit Syrian fighters in the rank of its affiliated factions, following a policy of incentives by providing them many offers, and taking advantage of the difficult living and economic conditions that Syria is going through.
Iran publicly supported and established military factions through which it used to implement its aspirations in Syria. Perhaps the National Defense Forces and the Liwa Fatemiyoun and Liwa Zainebiyoun factions are among the most prominent of these factions.
Al-Issa believes that, along with government forces and after its military interference in Syria, ” Iran has committed many massacres against Syrian civilians in the areas it entered under the pretext of fighting terrorism.”
“The systematic destruction campaigns in the Syrian cities were carried out by the pro-Iranian military forces, which showed their sectarianism from the first moments of their interference in Syria,” he told North press.
The political researcher pointed out that the Russian-Iranian competition for interests and regions of influence in Syria is “so clear.”
Al-Issa sees that Iran fears a political solution in Syria, “because the Iranian presence will end. It will be the only loser in ending the war with an international will, away from the continuation of the conflict and the militarization of the Syrian reality.”