US Claims Enormous Iranian Militia Set Up in Syria

'As Many as 50,000' Fighters Part of Impossibly Large Pro-Regime Militia

Though no evidence was provided to back it up, top Obama Administration officials are claiming that Iran has managed to create one of the largest militia factions in the entire Middle East in Syria with relatively little notice.

The officials claim Iran’s secret militia has “as many as 50,000” fighters, calling it a “big operation” aimed at keeping fighters in Syria for the long term in case the Assad government is eventually ousted by the rebels.

“Big operation” is putting it mildly. NATO estimated the sum total of Taliban fighters in occupied Afghanistan at 25,000. Iran somehow is supposed to have create a force of twice that size in virtually no time, and without the benefit of it being a former government.

It seems extremely unlikely that, in the midst of a civil war and in a nation where only about 10 percent of the population are Shi’ite, Iran would even be able to find 50,000 Shi’ite fighters who weren’t otherwise engaged in the Syrian military.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.