Exposing Iranian Exploitation and Weakness
An article appearing inthe Washington Times, Iran touts Israel invasion to recruit teenage boys to fight in Syria, on the Iranian government’s efforts to recruit fighters for the war in Syria, offers evidence of the lack of domestic enthusiasm for the regime’s regional ambitions. The article describes how the regime has resorted to targeting teenagers in their recruitment effort and quotes a source identifying most of the current “Iranian” fighters in Syria as members of a disadvantaged migrant community, the Hazaras.
The Iranian regime displays the worst form of exploitation by recruiting displaced and impoverished refugees to fight and die on its behalf. Will the so-called human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch rail against the regime for this abuse with anywhere near the same fervor that they pursue Israel for what they allege are acts of impunity toward Palestinians?
The report shows the limited appeal to the Iranian population for the regime’s adventurism. The direct Iranian military commitment in Syria is still quite limited, no more than a few thousand fighters out of a population of nearly 80 million. And yet, the regime already finds it necessary to resort to enticing teenagers from impoverished ethnic minorities. This suggests that the regime can’t even find enough Revolutionary Guards personnel to send into battle.
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