Iranian advisers are commanding pro-Assad militia groups, defected general says

Ibrahim Al-Jabawi claims shabiha gangs executed 10 and detained 350 civilians in Homs at the weekend

By Gabe Fisher 13 August 2012, 12:06 pm

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Syrian militiamen known as "shabiha" stand watch in Damascus. The gunmen operate as hired muscle for the Syrian regime, clutching rifles and daggers as they sweep through towns and villages, seeking vengeance on enemies of Bashar Assad. (photo credit: Kfar Suseh Coordinating of the Syrian Revolution/AP)

Iranian military advisers have been leading militias fighting on behalf of President Bashar Assad’s regime during recent battles against rebel forces in Homs, former Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Al-Jabawi said in an al-Arabiya interview on Monday. Al-Jabawi, who defected to Jordan on Sunday, served as the Homs deputy police commander.

Assad’s militias, known as shabiha, are believed to have perpetrated brutal attacks on Syrian civilians, and their status as hired guns allows the government to disavow responsibility for their actions.

Al-Jabawi told al-Arabiya that an Iranian military adviser led each shabiha unit during last weekend’s operations in the al-Shamas district of Homs, where he claimed the militias killed 10 civilians and detained 350 people.

This claim was backed up by a Sunday statement from the Syrian National Council, the Syrian opposition leadership based in Istanbul, which said that “10 young men were executed in the Shamas neighborhood of Homs city, after the army and pro-regime gunmen stormed the area and rounded up 350 young people.”

Al-Jabawi said that the al-Shamas area did not have an active presence of Syrian opposition fighters.