The Iranian Tasnim agency published images on its website of Qassim Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, praying at the Syrian-Iraqi border alongside a number of fighters of the Afghan Liwa Fatemiyoun Brigade.
The Iranian agency reported that the Fatemiyoun forces had begun to mobilize toward the Syrian-Iraqi border to continue their operations that began last month alongside the Assad regime and its allied sectarian forces.
The agency said that two days ago the Fatemiyoun brigade had been able to reach the Syrian-Iraqi border, describing the advance as a blow to the United States' plans that it had been trying to impose with airstrikes.
Armed opposition groups denied that these forces had reached the Syrian-Iraqi border. Fares al-Mannajid, director of the media office of the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo group, denied to Alsouria Net that Assad forces and allied foreign militias had reached the Syrian-Iraqi border, as regime media had announced.
Last Thursday, June 8, coalition warplanes bombarded Iranian-backed pro-regime militias north of the Al-Tanf crossing, the third time coalition planes had struck armed groups under Iran’s authority. Militants were also struck on June 6 near the Al-Tanf area in southern Syria, as well as on May 18 by an airstrike while trying to advance south of the Zaazaa checkpoint toward Al-Tanf.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
