{"blocks":[{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Pro-Syrian regime forces are conducting a joint operation with Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), sweeping Syria’s eastern desert near the Iraq border for ISIS cells, multiple sources told The Defense Post."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The operation brought together units from Syria’s National Defense Forces militias, Syrian Arab Army regulars, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iraqi PMUs on both sides of the border."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The NDF claimed its participation on social media on Friday."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"“The Syrian [Arab] Army and the National Defense Forces in Deir Ezzor in cooperation with the Iraqi Army and [other Iraqi] forces, are participating in combing the border strip between Syria and Iraq, departing from the city of Al-Bukamal towards the outskirts of the Tanf oil field,” an NDF statement read."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"A representative of the group confirmed to The Defense Post on Sunday, May 5 that the operation was ongoing."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"https://www.facebook.com/National.Defence.Forces.NDF/photos/pcb.2204586702930016/2204586499596703/"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The NDF posted photos on Facebook, purporting to show a column of its forces, as well as a map appearing to show a triangular area of operations stretching from the city of Palmyra to the edge of the 55-km deconfliction zone occupied by the U.S.-led Coalition and vetted Syrian opposition fighters, and Al-Bukamal to the east."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The area is considered strategic for moving personnel and equipment from Iraq into Syria via the Qaim border crossing."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"If the NDF’s claims are accurate, the operation would put Syrian government and Iran-backed forces in close proximity to the Coalition’s declared 55-km zone around al-Tanf."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The Coalition has carried out airstrikes against pro-regime forces approaching the zone in the past."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In March, backed by the Coalition, the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces captured the last remaining ISIS territory in Syria on the east bank of the Euphrates near the Iraq border."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The group maintains sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq and continues to launch attacks on pro-regime forces from Syria’s Badia desert."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Last month, ISIS drew a significant number of pro-Syrian regime forces into a days-long fight, near Sukhnah, southwest of Deir Ezzor, killing at least a dozen."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In Iraq, Coalition aircraft over a number of days last week struck ISIS sleeper cells in the Wadi Ash Shai area of Hamrin in the first acknowledged combat employment of the F-35A joint strike fighter."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"“Coalition operations will continue to target Daesh’s capacity to reemerge, which includes targeting its financial, explosive-manufacturing, communication, recruiting, planning, training and smuggling activities,” a Coalition spokesperson told The Defense Post."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Swaths of the Iraqi side of the border are manned by predominantly-Shiite Popular Mobilization militias to bolster the presence of Iraqi Army forces"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"A number of PMUs are participating in the operation on both sides of the border, according to Phillip Smyth, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Among them are Hezbollah and the Iran-linked Kata’ib al-Imam Ali (Imam Ali Battalions), which claims to have some 500 fighters in Syria and maintains a base in Al-Bukamal."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Last month, a commander in the Kata’ib al-Imam Ali denied his forces are paid by Iran, saying their salaries come only from Iraq’s PMU committee."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The militia has been accused of involvement in cross-border smuggling."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The U.S. government has targeted the group’s leader Shibl al-Zaydi with economic sanctions, accusing him of sending fighters to Syria on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Forces, Qassem Soleimani."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"“Groups on the Iraqi side of the border included Liwa al-Tafuf, Harakat al-Abdal (though, some elements also operated on the Syrian side), and Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiyah,” Smyth told The Defense Post via email."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"A spokesperson for the Iraq’s Ministry of Defense did not return a request for comment."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Last month, prominent Shiite cleric and leader of the Iraqi parliament’s Sairoon (Forward) coalition Muqtada al-Sadr publicly called for all non-local PMUs to withdraw from Syria."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The PMUs organized to fill the security role of the Iraqi Army in the wake of Islamic State’s takeover of much of northwest Iraq in 2014."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The Iraqi government announced it would pay PMU fighters a salary equal to that of the Iraqi Army in November 2018 as part of efforts to bring the militias under Baghdad’s authority."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The Syrian government organized groups of pro-regime militias into the NDF with Iranian support in 2012 as a local part-time volunteer reserve to bolster the Syrian Arab Army. Members of the NDF militias receive salaries and equipment from the government."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"https://www.thedefensepost.com/2019/02/21/iraq-army-peshmerga-survey-disputed-territories-joint-operations/"}}]}

Pro-regime and Iran-backed militias sweep Syria-Iraq border for ISIS cells