Evgenia Sokolenko10:35, 07.12.24

The evacuation of Iranians is a “significant turning point” for the ruling regime.

Iran began evacuating its military and diplomatic personnel from  Syria on December 6 .

As The New York Times writes,   citing sources, this indicates Tehran’s inability to help Syrian dictator Bashar Assad confront the rebels.

Those evacuated to neighboring Iraq and Lebanon included senior commanders of the Quds Force, the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. IRGC personnel, some Iranian diplomats, their families, and Iranian civilians were also evacuated. 

According to sources, some of the evacuations are being carried out by plane to Tehran, while others are being taken by land routes to Lebanon, Iraq, and the Syrian port of Latakia.

“Iran is starting to evacuate its forces and military personnel because we cannot act as an advisory and supporting force if the Syrian army itself does not want to fight,” said Mehdi Rahmati, an Iranian analyst who advises officials on regional strategy.

The NYT called the evacuation of the Iranians a “significant turnaround” for Assad, whose government Iran has supported throughout Syria’s 13-year civil war, while Tehran has used the country as a key route for supplying weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In addition, along with Russia, Iran was the Syrian government’s most powerful ally. At the height of the civil war, Iran also deployed tens of thousands of volunteers, including Iranians, Afghans, and Pakistani Shiites, to fight on behalf of the ruling regime. 

According to sources, some Iranian military personnel, in particular the Afghan Fatimiyun Brigade, were transferred to the “stronghold” of the Assad regime on December 6 – Damascus and Latakia.

According to Iranian officials, two senior Quds Force generals who advised the Syrian army fled to Iraq after the rebels captured the cities of Homs and Deir ez-Zor.

“Syria is on the verge of collapse, and we are watching calmly… I do not understand the reasons for this inaction, but whatever it is, it harms our country,” Iranian parliament member Ahmad Naderi wrote in a social media post on Friday.

He is convinced that if Damascus falls, Iran will also lose influence in Iraq and Lebanon.

According to the NYT, the rebel offensive coincided with a moment of relative weakness for Syria’s three most important allies, as Iran is focused on Israel, the Russian military is exhausted by the invasion of Ukraine, and Hezbollah has suffered serious losses in its own war with Israel.

(C)UNIAN 2024