Afghan Militia Returns to Iran's Borders
The Fatemiyoun division, with up to 50,000 members, has been redeployed to Sistan and Baluchistan after Syria.
By Meera Fletcher ·
Between 8,000 and 50,000 Afghan Shia fighters are back in public view in southeastern Iran. The Fatemiyoun division, long hidden after the fall of the Assad government in Syria in 2024, has reemerged in Sistan and Baluchistan province. This redeployment marks a major shift for a force that spent eleven years fighting in the Syrian civil war.
Investigators traced the group's return by analyzing martyrdom announcements and geolocating social media videos. In March 2026, during US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, IRGC-affiliated media released photos of killed personnel. These images showed portraits of fighters next to veterans from Syria, confirming the unit's identity. Some members, including IRGC Lieutenant Colonel Ali Akbar Saket, had advanced to officer ranks within the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Video evidence from September 2026 confirmed the militia's presence in the mountainous terrain of Sistan and Baluchistan. One clip, geolocated to Mount Kala Pade near Zahedan, showed at least 13 armed men patrolling the area. Another video captured weapons training at a new school in Gosht, near Saravan. These locations align with regions long plagued by cross-border drug trafficking and armed Baluch groups.
Casualties have already mounted in the province. In October 2026, two fighters died in separate incidents. Ahmad Yaghoubi was killed by an improvised explosive device on October 2. Mohammadreza Rahimi died in an armed clash on October 13. The People's Fighters Front, a coalition of Islamist and Baluch nationalist groups, claimed responsibility for both deaths. Funerals for both men were documented by IRGC media, though they were buried outside the province.
The move to Iran's border was not the original plan. The IRGC initially proposed sending the Fatemiyoun to Afghanistan to fight the Islamic State, but the Afghan government and the Taliban rejected the idea. A similar proposal for Pakistan was also declined. Mahdi Nakhl Ahmadi, an Iranian expert based in Italy, said the IRGC could not abandon thousands of battle-hardened soldiers who held sensitive intelligence. Integrating them into the IRGC prevented them from becoming a security risk.
Local accounts describe the fighters as initially concentrated in border areas prone to trafficking, particularly south of Saravan. They began in civilian jobs on IRGC projects before transitioning to military roles at Basij bases. As armed activity intensifies, their presence is expanding inland. The People's Fighters Front has claimed additional casualties since mid-October, though official Fatemiyoun channels have not yet confirmed these deaths.
