Konflikten i Syrien

“the Iranian regime clearly had a hand in [starting the Hasakah violence] both in terms of incitement and execution.”

However, it is widely understood that the Iranian government is a primary funder and organizer of NDF militias in many areas of Syria. And sure enough, the Commandos force—which was the first Arab group to drift into conflict with the YPG—has been accused of operating under Iranian patronage ever since its creation in December 2014.

Activists in Hasakah say that the Commandos are being recruited from local Sunni Arab tribes and other regime militias, such as the NDF, that already had tribal support. The Commandos’ formation should be seen in the context of government attempts to drag the Hasakah tribes over to its side in the war. It was allegedly preceded by the summoning, in early November, of 24 tribal sheikhs from northeast Syria to Damascus. The central figure in this process is said to have been Mohammed al-Fares, a sheikh of the Tai tribe and former member of the Syrian Parliament, whose clansmen in the Qamishli area have long functioned as a regime proxy.

Out of this gathering of tribal sheikhs and strongmen came the Commandos, a tribal militia now apparently being trained at a location south of Qamishli. Activists say that the training is overseen by a man known to them only as “al-Hajj Majed,” who is a member of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia that serves as Iran’s main proxy in Lebanon and Syria.