Iranian and Syrian flags flutter on a truck in Deir ez-Zor, Syria.
The Islamic Republic has opened an office in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province to recruit young locals to join its proxies.
Offering vulnerable young men a monthly salary of $200, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Islamic Republic is on a new drive to recruit militants from one of the region’s poorest countries.
It claimed that 80 men are working voluntarily in the office, part of the Islamic Republic's efforts to expand its military and political influence in Syria.
Reports from the rights group claim that in November, the Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful regional militia, destroyed vegetable warehouses in Damascus and turned them into military headquarters of Iran-affiliated proxies.
In December, Asharq Al-Awsat also reported that militants affiliated to the Islamic Republic are seeking to buy land and real estate in the southern suburbs of Damascus with the aim of expanding Iran's influence near the Syrian capital.
The newspaper claimed that there is a renewed campaign to purchase homes and establish new camps in areas adjacent to the zones of influence of Russia while Iran tries to deepen its influence while Russia is preoccupied with its war in Ukraine.
There are also claims that the Iranian militias have confiscated properties from people across other regions of Syria. In 2021 The Observatory reported that the IRGC and its militias have confiscated 10 houses and 30 shops in the city of al-Mayadin in the eastern suburbs of Deir ez-Zor, claiming that their owners are opponents of Bashar al-Assad's government.