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Iran commands 25,000 fighters in Syria, Israeli official says

Avi Dichter, a former director of the Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) and chair of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Iran has thousands of fighters in Syria in an effort to suppress the forces opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran commands a force of up to 25,000 Shi’ite Muslim fighters in Syria, an Israeli lawmaker said in a briefing Wednesday.

“This is a foreign legion of some 25,000 militants, most of whom have come from Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Avi Dichter, a former director of the Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) and chair of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told a delegation from the Swiss Parliament, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“They are fighting in Syria only against the rebels and not against ISIS [the Islamic State terror group],” meaning that Iran’s forces are only fighting to suppress the forces opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Ditcher also said Iran is using Hezbollah forces to lead the fight against other terror groups in Syria.

“The Iranians enlisted Hezbollah … to fight in Syria because the Iranian army is better suited to fight as an army against another army, while the Hezbollah militants are adept at fighting against terror groups,” he said.

“The fighting has made (Hezbollah) a better fighting force and more adept in conventional military warfare.”

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Israel fears that Hezbollah will use this acquired knowledge and abilities in an eventual attack against it.

Dichter made the statements while meeting with the Swiss-Israel Friendship Association, headed by MP Corina Eichenberger-Walther.

By: JNS.org and World Israel News Staff