(Zaman Al Wasl)- About 200,000 Iranians, mostly Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), have obtained Syrian passports in last few months, well-informed sources told Zaman al-Wasl on Monday.
The Department of Immigration and Passports in Damascus has recently issued 200,000 passports for Iranians over a confedential order by the Republican Palace and General Maher al-Assad, Bashar's brother, Damascus-based source said.
The Intelligence services have been handling the file of fake citizenship.
The move assures concerns of the demographic change by the Assad regime as hundreds of thousands of people are being forcibly displaced and evacuated from their hometowns to northern Idlib province.
Tehran has sent military advisers, volunteer militias and, reportedly, thousands of fighters from its Quds Force, the overseas arm of the IRGC.
It is also believed to have supplied thousands of tonnes of weaponry and munitions to help Bashar al-Assad's forces and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which is fighting on Assad's side, according BBC.
Tehran has faced accusations that it is seeking to establish not just an arc of influence but a logistical land supply line from Iran through to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
More than 119,000 pro-regime forces have been killed, including 62,000 troops, tens of thousands of loyalist militiamen, and 1,556 fighters from Hezbollah, according to an estimate by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
More than 470,000 people have been killed and 12 millions have been driven from their homes since Syria's revolution erupted in 2011.
Zaman Al Wasl
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