How FRANCE 24 traced Tehran-backed Afghan fighters from Syria to southeastern Iran

During Syria’s civil war, Iran organised and deployed foreign fighters to support then-president Bashar al-Assad’s government against armed opposition groups. These included Shia militias from Afghanistan and Pakistan, alongside Lebanon’s Hezbollah. One of the largest Iran-backed foreign fighting forces in Syria was the Afghan Shia militia known as the Fatemiyoun division. The group was designated as a terrorist entity by Canada in 2019 and placed under US counterterrorism sanctions the same year for supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force (IRGC-QF).

The Fatemiyoun division is estimated to have between 8,000 and 50,000 fighters in Syria. Its members were recruited mainly from Afghan Shia communities, and many of them were from migrant and refugee communities in Iran. After 11 years of fighting in Syria, when around 2,000 militia members were killed, everything changed abruptly for the Fatemiyoun in December 2024. Assad fled to Russia as a rebel coalition led by Ahmad al-Sharaa toppled his government, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) withdrew its forces from Syria.

Since then, the whereabouts of thousands of Afghan Shia fighters recruited, trained and battle-hardened by Iran during the Syrian civil war have become less clear. On the Telegram channels monitored by the FRANCE 24 Observers, the Fatemiyoun’s public presence appeared largely limited to posts commemorating members killed during the war in Syria. But recently, FRANCE 24 uncovered new clues about their whereabouts through “martyrdom” announcements published on Fatemiyoun-affiliated Telegram channels.

This time, the announcements concerned fighters who had been killed not in Syria years earlier, but more recently in Iran. Fatemiyoun fighters in IRGC ranks A key clue to the Fatemiyoun’s whereabouts emerged in March 2026, during the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. At the time, media outlets and social media accounts affiliated with the IRGC began publishing "martyrdom" announcements for personnel killed in US and Israeli airstrikes on IRGC military bases in Iran.

By examining these announcements, FRANCE 24 identified links between some of those killed and the Fatemiyoun division. In most cases, the announcements made no mention of their Fatemiyoun affiliation or Afghan origins. However, photographs from their funerals and memorial services provided evidence of their connection to the militia Fars News Agency, an outlet close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), announced a memorial service for Alireza Feizian and Ali Akbar Saket on October 30, 2026, in the ‘Fatemiyoun section’ of a cemetery in Mashhad.

The agency described both men as "martyrs" killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran. © Observers FRANCE 24 found photographs of memorial ceremonies organised by Fatemiyoun members in Iran, where portraits of those recently killed were displayed alongside those of well-known Fatemiyoun fighters killed in Syria, as well as the militia’s flags. In a few cases, reports from IRGC-affiliated news outlets further confirm their identities. For example, Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, confirmed that Alireza Feizian, a Fatemiyoun member who had previously been wounded in Syria, was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

These findings suggest that some Fatemiyoun members had been incorporated into IRGC ranks, including at officer level, as in the case of IRGC Lieutenant Colonel Ali Akbar Saket. A Fatemiyoun flag is visible in the background of this memorial service, while portraits of two recently killed Fatemiyoun members are displayed in the foreground, alongside those of well-known Fatemi © Observers Fatemiyoun fighters in Sistan and Baluchistan New videos circulating on Iranian social media in September provided further clues about the Fatemiyoun’s whereabouts and their deployment in southeastern Iran, particularly in Sistan and Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Sistan and Baluchistan is one of Iran’s least-developed provinces. The region has long faced insecurity linked to cross-border drug trafficking and the activities of armed Baluch groups, including Islamist and separatist organisations. On September 29, 2026, Haalvsh, a human rights news outlet covering Iran’s Baluchistan region, published a video suggesting the presence of Fatemiyoun fighters in a mountainous area of southeastern Iran.

The footage shows at least 13 armed men, identified by Haalvsh as Fatemiyoun members, apparently patrolling the mountainous terrain. Video published by Haalvsh on September 29, 2026, showing several armed men identified by the human rights organisation as Fatemiyoun members. According to Haalvsh’s sources, the footage was filmed in the Rudmahi area of Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran. To display this content from Telegram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

Accept Manage my choices FRANCE 24 geolocated the video to Mount Kala Pade, approximately 80 kilometres west of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan province. By comparing the mountain ridgelines visible in the footage with satellite imagery, FRANCE 24 geolocated the video to the Rudmahi area of Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran, corroborating the location reported by Haalvsh. © FRANCE 24 Haalvsh published an earlier video on September 21, 2026, that also suggested the presence of Fatemiyoun fighters in the province.

Video published by Haalvsh on September 21, 2026, showing armed men undergoing weapons training inside a school. France 24 could not independently verify the identities or affiliations of the men in the footage. To display this content from Telegram, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices The footage shows several armed men undergoing weapons training. Although local activists identified them as Fatemioun members, FRANCE 24 could not independently verify their identities.

However, FRANCE 24 geolocated the footage to a newly constructed school in Gosht, a small town near Saravan in Sistan and Baluchistan province. FRANCE 24 geolocated the video showing armed men undergoing military training to the Gosht Upper Secondary Boarding School in Sistan and Baluchistan province, southeastern Iran, approximately 215 kilometres south of Zahedan, the provincial capital. © FRANCE 24 ‘Martyrdom’ announcements confirm Fatemiyoun presence Further evidence of the Fatemiyoun's deployment in Sistan and Baluchistan emerged from "martyrdom" announcements published on Telegram channels or media affiliated with the militia.

These accounts openly acknowledged the deaths of Fatemiyoun members in two separate incidents. According to Fatemiyoun-affiliated sources, Ahmad Yaghoubi was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Sistan and Baluchistan on October 2, 2026, and later buried in Pakdasht, on the outskirts of Tehran. A memorial ceremony for Ahmad Yaghoubi, a member of the Fatemiyoun Division, held in Pakdasht, near Tehran, on October 8, 2026, the night before his burial. © .

Mohammadreza Rahimi was killed in an armed clash on October 13 in Sistan and Baluchistan and later buried in Sarvestan, Fars province. The IRGC and Fatemiyoun-affiliated media also published photographs and videos of their funeral ceremonies. On October 18, 2026, Fars News Agency, an outlet close to the IRGC, published photographs of the funeral of Mohammadreza Rahimi, whom it described as a Fatemiyoun member ‘martyred in Sistan and Baluchistan’.

Fatemiyoun flags are also visible in the photographs. © Fars News The People's Fighters Front (PFF) claimed responsibility for both incidents. Formed in December 2025, the PFF is a coalition of several Islamist and Baluch nationalist armed groups, including Jaish al-Adl, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States and Iran. Why Iran may have retained Fatemiyoun fighters after the war in Syria Mahdi Nakhl Ahmadi, an Iranian expert on Sistan and Baluchistan based in Italy, told France 24: The Fatemiyoun were not entirely absent from Sistan and Baluchistan during the Syrian civil war.

There were reports of their members holding civilian positions in the province, which drew criticism from local figures at the time. But there is no doubt that their presence intensified after the war in Syria. The IRGC could not simply abandon these fighters. First, Iran had invested heavily in recruiting and training them. After years of fighting in Syria, including urban warfare, they had become battle-hardened soldiers. Second, they could have posed a security risk to the Islamic republic itself.

Thousands of trained fighters, some of whom had risen to senior command positions and gained access to sensitive IRGC intelligence, could have turned against the Islamic republic or joined groups fighting Iran if left without jobs or income. However, the deployment of Fatemiyoun fighters in Sistan and Baluchistan did not happen suddenly, and it seems this was not the IRGC’s first choice. Initially, the IRGC sought to negotiate with Pakistan and the Afghan authorities over the deployment of Fatemiyoun fighters to combat common enemies in their respective territories.

In Afghanistan, the proposal was to deploy Fatemiyoun fighters against the Islamic State group. Both the former Afghan government and, later, the Taliban rejected the idea. The Taliban viewed the fighters as a potential threat because their loyalty was to Iran rather than to the Taliban. Some former Fatemiyoun members who returned to Afghanistan were even imprisoned by the Taliban. The IRGC also proposed deploying Fatemiyoun fighters in Pakistan’s Balochistan province to fight Baluch separatist and radical Islamist armed groups operating in areas where the Pakistani government has limited control.

Pakistan also rejected the proposal. The IRGC therefore turned to another option: deploying the fighters along Iran’s borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan. It provided accommodation for Fatemiyoun members in Zabol and several other towns in Sistan and Baluchistan. The exact number of fighters stationed there is unknown. Initially, they were assigned civilian jobs on projects run by the IRGC, but over time, they increasingly took on military roles.

The IRGC began stationing them at Basij bases and IRGC garrisons, deploying them on patrols and at checkpoints. According to scattered accounts from local residents, the fighters were initially concentrated in the border areas between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where drug traffickers, human traffickers and armed groups operate, and where armed clashes are more frequent. Most of their bases and garrisons are reportedly located in an area extending roughly 20 kilometres south of Saravan.

However, this does not mean they are absent from other parts of the province. As armed group activity has intensified in Sistan and Baluchistan, Fatemiyoun fighters appear to have expanded their presence further inland, as the recent incidents and videos suggest. The People's Fighters Front (PFF) has claimed to have killed more Fatemiyoun fighters than the two whose deaths were publicly acknowledged by Fatemiyoun-affiliated channels. Since October 13, 2026, the PFF has also claimed responsibility for further attacks targeting IRGC and Fatemiyoun forces in Sistan and Baluchistan, alleging additional Fatemiyoun casualties.

However, FRANCE 24 could not independently verify these additional deaths, and no corresponding "martyrdom" announcements were found on the Fatemiyoun-affiliated channels.