In light of poor living conditions in regime-held areas | Militiamen of the Iranian-backed “Liwaa al-Rasoul al-A’zam” seek after defection
Reliable sources have told SOHR that the militiamen of “Liwaa al-Rasoul al-A’zam” are struggling with dire living conditions, amid attempts by most of the Iranian-backed formation to evade service in the brigade and defect from it.
In an exclusive interview with SOHR, a member of “Liwaa al-Rasoul al-A’zam” from al-Bakara tribe, who refused to mention his real name for security reasons, said “I am trying to find a way to split from the brigade over the acute financial hardship which most of the brigade’s members in Aleppo are suffering from. My salary does not exceed 100,000 Syrian liras, which can secure my and my family’s needs for only four days. The brigade’s members are searching for other sources of income through stealing cooper cables and sharing the revenue with other members, after selling them. In addition many members turned to looting civilians’ houses after every operation. Before every operation, the command of Liwaa al-Rasoul al-A’zam informs us that we are allowed to loot the houses’ contents in the area where the operation is carried out, in the case that the area came under the control of the brigade. Such instructions comes as a part of attempts by the brigade’s command to encourage the members to participate in these operations, especially since many members refused to engage in operations launched in the Syrian desert’s hot zones under the pretext that their salaries are not enough for their families’ basic needs.
The member added, “I engaged in battles on several frontlines throughout Syria, including the deserts of Homs and Deir Ezzor and Aleppo countryside. Moreover, the command of Liwaa al-Rasoul al-A’zam have thrown the brigade’s Syrian militiamen onto the frontlines where battles with ISIS in the Syrian desert inflame, while the Iranian and Afghani militiamen are kept on back-up lines, so that the brigade’s command can keep the death toll of non-Syrian militiamen lower. I had been registered by Russian forces with the aim to be sent, as a mercenary, to Libya and engage in the fight alongside the “Libyan National Army” led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in return for a salary of 600 USD. However, I was been rejected after they found out that I belonged to Iranian-backed militias.”