Abuzar Brigade, (Arabic: لواء أبوزر Liwa' 'Abuzr,), (Persian: لشکر ابوذر ), also known as Abuzar Division, was an Afghan Shia militia that fought in the Iran–Iraq War on the side of Iran. During the war, the group was mainly stationed in the mountainous areas of northwestern Iran, and its fighters had experience in both mountain and irregular warfare from the Soviet-Afghan War.[2][3][4][5]
| Abuzar Brigade | |
|---|---|
| لشکر ابوذر | |
| Dates of operation | 1980–1988[1] |
| Headquarters | Mashhad, Iran |
| Ideology | Khomeinism Shia Islamism |
| Size | (Unknown) |
| Allies |  Iran |
| Opponents | .svg){kind=small} Ba'athist Iraq  PMOI DRFLA |
| Battles and wars | |
History
editIn the early years of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghan militias fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and its Soviet supporters. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, they aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the Abuzar Brigade to battle the Iraqis, suffering significant casualties throughout the conflict.[6]
In 2014 the IRGC created the Liwa Fatemiyoun, an Afghan Shia militia formed to fight in Syria on the side of the government. It is funded, trained, and equipped by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and fights under the command of Iranian officers.[7] However, the group has denied direct Iranian government involvement in its activities.[7] According to late deputy commander Sayed Hakim, the group numbers between 12,000–14,000 fighters.[8]
References
edit- ^ "IRGC Commander Praises Afghans for Fighting against ISIL in Syria". 9 August 2016. Fars News. Archived from the original on 2017-08-19. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- ^ Phillips, David J. (2001). Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World. William Carey Library. ISBN 9781903689059. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
- ^ mashreghnews.ir, مشرق نیوز : آخرین اخبار ایران و جهان (20 May 2015). "تیپ فاطمیون، لشکر شد". Archived from the original on 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ "لشکر "فاطميون" چگونه شکل گرفت؟ - سرلشکرقاسم سلیمانی - Qasem Soleimani". Archived from the original on 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ "روایت تیپ 300 نفره "ابوذر" که همگی افغانستانی بودند - FarsNews Agency". Archived from the original on 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ Uskowi, Nader (2018). Temperature Rising: Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Wars in the Middle East. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 132.
- ^ a b "Iran's Afghan Shiite Fighters in Syria". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Archived from the original on 2015-04-24. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
- ^ "تشکیلات فعلی فاطمیون ابتدا یک هیئت خانگی بود/ تعدادی از افغان‌ها از اروپا به فاطمیون آمدند و شهید شدند". Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
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