Iranian parties sent bags full of cash dollars to several regions in the southern Syrian towns, such as the Houran and Golan regions, to recruit new members, according to a recent intelligence report.
Several parties are buying homes and lands to be occupied by Iranian or other Shiite population groups from various countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
They establish illegal Iranian outposts in those areas and then turn them into legitimate settlements with the approval of several Syrian army officers.
The report indicated that Iranian nationals or thousands of Syrian soldiers and officers who abandoned the regime’s army are replacing Syrians who left their homeland.
According to the report, the money was also sent to several community leaders in As-Suwayda, members of the Arab Druze community. Some of the leaders are known to support the regime and began to show a shift in their allegiance towards Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
They also sent money to Qarfa town, which Iran succeeded in converting from Sunni to the Shiite sect.
The report indicated that this Iranian activity worries the Syrian regime and is also causing concern among Israel, Russia, and several countries in the region.
Israel, which is fighting the Iranian military expansion plan in Syria, is incapable of finding an effective way to combat the civilian settlement of the Iranians.
However, the report holds the Syrian regime responsible for the recent developments, claiming it did not address the impacts of the war and the deterioration of the economic situation.
Instead, the regime imposes new taxes, leaving people in need of any support from any party.
The report quotes several Israeli army leaders who confirm that this plan succeeded in Lebanon and put the southern region under the control of Hezbollah.
They believe it is only a matter of time before southern Syria becomes a front against Israel and other countries in the region.
The report reveals that Brigades 8200 and 504 of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate have established a center in the occupied Golan Heights to monitor the activity along the border.
It warned that celebrating victory over ISIS in southern Syria seemed hasty, as the alternative is no less dangerous.
Recent drills of the Israeli army included a scenario in which the troops carry out incursions into the Syrian territories in Golan and Houran to combat the expanding Iranian activity.
( Asharq Al-Awsat)
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