Demographic change | Iranian-backed militias recruit people from Deir Ezzor to purchase real estate in regime-controlled areas in al-Raqqah
As Iran continues strengthening its presence in Syria with the help of its proxy Syrian and non-Syrian militias and its affiliates throughout the country, reliable sources have told SOHR that the Iranian-backed militias have recruited young and adult men from al-Mayadeen, al-Bokamal and other areas in Deir Ezzor, at commanders’ orders, and sent them to regime-held areas in al-Raqqah province with the aim to purchase and take over real estate, including houses, land plots and shops.
The Iranians had practiced such technique in eastern and western Ghouta, when they recruited locals from Deir Ezzor and sent them to Rif Dimashq where they purchased tens of houses and shops.
According to SOHR sources, the new recruits in al-Raqqah managed, since early July, to purchase 78 units, including houses, land plots and shops, in Maadan city and surrounding areas and other regime-controlled towns and villages in al-Raqqah countryside. It is worth noting that these people have bought the units without bargaining, and that they asked brokers to inform them of any houses or shops offered for sale in the region.
On June 11, Observatory activists reported expansion of purchasing real estate in the city of Ma’madyat al-Sham whose people had been displaced several year ago, and other areas in western Ghouta. The purchase deals were struck by merchants and persons from Deir Ezzor, at direct orders by Iran-backed non-Syrian militias.
The traders, who were directly connected to Iran-backed militias, offered generous amounts of money to the real estate brokers and offices in the area and they recently bought dozens of real estate units, as it was the case in eastern al-Ghouta where the same network of these militias were purchasing more units. Such practices came as a part of systematic demographic change by all foreign powers engaged in Syria civil war, while the Syrian civilians were the only victims.
On mid-April, SOHR sources in eastern Ghouta in Rif Dimashq said that merchants from the city of al-Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor affiliated with the Iranian-backed local militia of “Liwaa al-Abbas”, continued to buy real estate from residents across eastern Ghouta, through “Abu Yasser al-Bakary”, who previously bought many properties in various areas in eastern Ghouta at the orders of “A.A.”, the leader of a pro-Iranian militia.
According to Syrian Observatory sources, the purchases were recently concentrated in the areas of the southern sector of eastern Ghouta, including the areas of Zabadin, Deir al-Assafir, Hatitet al-Turkman and Al-Meliha, where these traders bought a large number of farmlands, houses, restaurants and parks which had been already damaged during earlier military operations. The traders also bought about 100 houses in the city of al-Meliha, some of which were almost completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, negotiations between these militias and the owners of real estate offices were underway to buy buildings belonging to people living abroad, as their properties were completely destroyed due to airstrikes during military operations. Recently, these traders began to search for destroyed buildings to buy them from their owners for unknown reasons, after they were purchasing shops and habitable houses. Moreover, the Iranians bought a large number of parks and restaurants in the areas of Hatitet al-Turkmen, Deir al-Assafir and Zabdin from their owners during the recent period.