Iran's Revolutionary Guards agent freed in Homs ceasefire deal

  (Zaman Alwasl) - Shirin Ahmed, the newly freed Iranian hostage in the ceasefire deal of Homs last week, has considered herself as the luckiest hostage ever since she held captive by Liwa’a al-Tawhid brigade at Baba al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey two months ago.

Ahmed, 30-year-old, was caught equipped with hidden camera and recording device under her clothes where she was claiming her intention to visit the Shiite shrines in Aleppo province.

Five days ago, Ahmed and Russian officer were freed with other 40 fighters and civilians from Bashar al-Assad’s heartland Latakia province in pursuant to the evacuation agreement of 1200 rebels from the Old City of Homs on May 9 and 10.

Ahmed told Zaman Alwasl that her release was due to an intensified mediation by top ranked officer from the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards who pushed Syrian regime to speed up the negotiation process with rebels.

Zaman Alwasl sources assured that Ahmed was recruited by the Revolutionary Guards with many girls in Syrian and under many purposes as ‘Jihad al-Nikah’ (Jihad Marriage) and prostitution to defame rebels reputation.

Ahmed was expecting summarily execution but she was surprised by the good treatment by the Islamic rebel group of Liwa’a al-Tawhid which provided her with interpreter, she told Zaman Alwasl.

Most recent exchange deals have witnessed a deep impact by Assad’s strong ally Iran. The same swap deals also have sparked outrage within regime’s allies mostly from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

 While many Alawites, roughly 10 percent of Syria's 23 million people, have actively supported Assad, others sympathized with the popular revolt against him in 2011 but now fear reprisals from his mainly Sunni Muslim enemies.

More details of the recruitment drive by the Revolutionary Guards were posted this week on a blog catering to Afghan refugees in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported .

“Iran is recruiting Afghan refugees to fight in Syria,” the newspaper titled, saying that Iran is offering them stipends of $500 a month and residency permits, quoting Afghans and Western officials, according to AFP.

The aim was to reduce casualties among Iranian Guards personnel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, a close Tehran ally, the official said.

Tehran strongly denies its forces are directly involved in the Syrian conflict but Hezbollah publicly acknowledged in April last year that it has been fighting alongside Assad's troops.

Like Hezbollah and most Iranians, the Afghan recruits are Shiites and support Assad, whose Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Journal said.

Syria's conflict began with largely peaceful protests calling for reforms but transformed into an armed uprising and eventually a civil war following a ferocious military crackdown on protesters. More than 150,000 people have died since March 2011, and hundreds of thousands of people have been wounded and displaced by the war.

(Reporting by Sham Mohamed; Editing by Ridha Ali)