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According to a Dari-language report on Poronanews.com, members of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, which is comprised of Afghan fighters recruited by Iran from Afghanistan and from inside Iran, shared photos on social media of Afghan members killed in Syria; their corpses were transferred to Iran.
Dozens of fighters had reportedly been killed by militias ruling Syria after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime, the report said.
The report carried photos of three Fatemiyoun Brigade members killed in Syria.
Following is a translation of the report:
"A number of members of the Fatemiyoun Brigade have posted photos on social media of the dead Afghan members of the Fatemiyoun Brigade whose bodies were transferred from Syria to Iran; [brigade members] have said that the fighters' funerals were held in Qom province.
"There is no exact figure for the number of Afghan Fatemiyoun members killed in Syria whose bodies were transferred to Iran, but some sources say that dozens of these forces were killed by the militias ruling the country after the overthrow of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria.
"A number of Afghan citizens, especially followers of the Shi'ite religion, have been mobilized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in recent years as part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade and sent to Syria to fight ISIS and other militant groups opposed to the Bashar Al-Assad regime.
"It is said that these forces played an effective role in strengthening the positions of the Bashar Al-Assad government and protecting the government in Syria. With the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's government, Iran withdrew its military forces from Syria, and after taking control of Damascus, the militia groups ruling Syria increasingly attacked Iranian targets and spoke of the end of Iranian rule in Syria.
"It is not clear how many Afghan citizens were sent to Syria as part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, and how many of them were evacuated during the process of withdrawing Iranian military forces from Syria and how many remained in Syria.
"Bashar Al-Assad's government was supported by Iran and Russia, but last week [early December 2024], militia groups advanced toward Damascus in a swift and surprising offensive, overthrowing Bashar Al-Assad's regime, forming an interim government, and speaking of an end to the war and instability in the country."
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