Tue 07 April 2020:
An Iranian state-run daily attacked a former IRGC official for disclosing that the regime pays its proxies, namely the Fatemiyoun Brigade, in Syria.
In a video circulating on social media on April 3, Parviz Fattah was seen talking on a show on state-run TV in mid-February about the dead commander of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani.
He said that when he was the head of IRGC Cooperative Foundation, Soleimani asked him for money to pay the wages of the Fatemiyoun Brigade.
Senior Iranian official in charge of “charities” says former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani asked him for help to provide the paychecks of Afghan proxies recruited by #Iran to keep Assad in power in #Syria.
Tehran’s definition of “charities”…pic.twitter.com/Mml1y5BF9k
— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) April 3, 2020
The Brigade, known also as the Fatemiyoun Division, is a mainly Afghan Shi’a militia formed by the IRGC’s Quds Force in 2014 to fight in Syria for Bashar al-Assad.
The regime maintains that the Fatemiyoun Brigade is made up of volunteers.
According to a Fatemiyoun commander, “More than 80,000 forces in the Fatemiyoun Brigade were deployed to Syria”.
Various sources in the past have said that Iran-backed fighters received around $900 a month.
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on the the Fatemiyoun Division last January to put pressure on the Iranian regime.
The Shargh state-run newspaper, affiliated with the so-called moderate faction of the regime attacked Fattah for his disclosure.
“In light of current conditions, Parvis Fatah’s comments about the wages of the Fatemiyoun Brigade were very strange,” the daily wrote on April 5.
Shargh said that his comments showed that “he lacked the necessary intelligence to appear on a TV show” and that he “says things he should not say”.
Shargh Daily is echoing the concerns of Iran’s government about the disclosure which proves that the regime spends millions on funding its proxies while Iranians live in poverty. Especially now during the COVID-19 epidemic, when the regime refuses to give financial aid to its citizens who are struggling to make ends meet and are forced to work despite the danger of getting infected.
-Source: irannewswire
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