You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
50 Pakistani fighters killed in Turkish strikes in Syria
2020-03-08
[ARABNEWS.PK] Up to 50 Pak fighters have been killed in military action by the Ottoman Turkish army and Syrian regime forces in Syria’s last major rebel stronghold in the northwest of the country, officials told Arab News this week.

Fighting has escalated dramatically in recent days in Idlib in northwest Syria, where The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
has sent thousands of troops and military vehicles in the last month to counter Syrian government forces’ advances in the last remaining bastion held by rebels. On the opposite side in Syria’s nine-year conflict is Russia, which supports Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
and has also carried out Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in recent days.

On Thursday, Turkey and Russia agreed to a cease-fire deal after talks in Moscow to contain a conflict that has displaced nearly a million people in three months.

"The number of those [Paks] killed is more than 50," an official told Arab News on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media about the issue.

Another government official confirmed that 50 Paks had been killed.

Pakistan’s foreign office did not respond to Arab News queries when contacted to comment on this news.

The deceased likely belong to Zainebiyoun Brigade, a militant group that was placed on the US Treasury’s financial blacklist in January 2019 and comprises Pakistani Shias fighting in Syria and Iran.

According to media reports, Zainebiyoun Brigade has over 800 Pakistanis fighting in Syria. The group’s fighters are allegedly trained by Iran’s Quds Force, the military unit responsible for projecting Iran’s influence via proxies across the Middle East.

“Following the clashes in Syria’s Idlib [region], 21 members of Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun brigades were martyred,” Iran’s Hawzah News Agency reported on Sunday, adding that 18 of the deceased belonged to the Zainebiyoun Brigade.

“This is not the first incident where Pakistanis have been killed in Syria,” Pakistani security analyst Muhammad Amir Rana said, adding that Pakistani militants fighting for both Daesh and Assad’s forces, had been killed in Syria in the past. He said many Pakistanis had also been arrested upon their return from Syria but could not provide an exact number of fatalities.
Related:
Quds Force: 2020-03-02 Iranian militia body in Syria warns Turkey to end Idlib airstrikes
Quds Force: 2020-02-27 Hezbollah operative killed in drone strike in southern Syria
Quds Force: 2020-02-24 Iranian cleric blames Trump for coronavirus outbreak in Qom
Related:
Idlib: 2020-03-06 US Syria Envoy Calls for European Support to Turkey
Idlib: 2020-03-06 Video reportedly showing around 2-3 dozen Hezbollah special forces ‘Radwan Unit’ fighters on Idlib frontlines
Idlib: 2020-03-06 20 minutes into the ceasefire in Idlib...
Related:
Daesh: 2020-03-06 Syrian Army completes successful anti-ISIS operation in southwest Raqqa
Daesh: 2020-03-05 Iraq has repatriated 828 children born to ISIS parents to countries of origin
Daesh: 2020-02-25 Iraqi forces kill 3 terrorists with close connections to ISIS leader
Posted by:Fred

#9  You’re just too cute for words, Dron66046 dear.
Posted by: trailing wife   2020-03-08 23:53  

#8  Ha ! Just an exultation of malicious glee.
Posted by: Dron66046   2020-03-08 23:32  

#7  Green on Green.
Posted by: Lex   2020-03-08 21:32  

#6  Ha!zeries, maybe. Kind of a cool brand if you weren't backward and vicious.

Color me ignorant, pakistanis fighting for Iran?

The real conflict in the ME is Shia vs Sunni. Everyone thinks Arabs vs Jews, but that's just a sideshow. The big game is Islam vs Islam.
Posted by: SteveS   2020-03-08 20:36  

#5  Ha?
Posted by: trailing wife   2020-03-08 19:20  

#4  Ha !
Posted by: Dron66046   2020-03-08 16:00  

#3  Also Afghan Hazeris. Probably the Pakistanis are Hazeris, too.
Posted by: trailing wife   2020-03-08 13:03  

#2  Iran recruits Shia in several countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran itself) to serve as auxiliary units in Syria. The recruits, paid by Iran, are told they are to protect Shia shrines in Syria and that is partly true. However the various commanders of the Assad forces will occasionally use these auxiliary units in heavy combat. The auxiliary forces are usually not particularly well equipped, well led or well trained and end up taking lots of causalities.

Probably somewhere near 10,000 of these auxiliaries have been killed so far in the Syrian civil/regional war.
Posted by: lord garth   2020-03-08 12:33  

#1  Color me ignorant, pakistanis fighting for Iran?
Posted by: Woodrow   2020-03-08 11:04  

00:00