Agreement between Russia, Iran regarding presence on Syria-Iraq border
According to an online report, the two sides agreed on the transfer of several points in the area of Al-Heri village, and the Imam Ali base next to Albu Kamal, to Russian control.
According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Iran does not intend to withdraw from Syria soon. The center also reports on a Russian-Iranian agreement regarding the area of Albu Kamal on the Syria-Iraq border.
According to the report, the political and media adviser to the Syrian president, Bouthaina Shaaban, stated in an interview to the Lebanese al-Mayadin channel that the Syrian leadership has not asked Iran or Hezbollah to leave the country. According to the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Faysal al-Miqdad, in an interview to the Russian news channel Russia Today, the United States has no right to opine about the presence of Iran in Syria. He said that the presence of Iran in Syria is legal, based on a Syrian official request, and limited to the presence of Iranian military advisers.
Regarding the Syria-Iraq border, “The Syrian news website Nahar Media reported about an agreement reached between Iran and Russia concerning the deployment of their forces in the Albu Kamal region on the Syrian-Iraqi border. According to this report, the two sides agreed to hand over to Russian control a number of points in the village of al-Heri and the Imam Ali base near Albu Kamal, east of Deir Ezzor city,” the Amit center said.
“In addition, the Russian forces in Deir Ezzor assumed control of a number of points along the Syrian-Iraqi border in the Albu Kamal region, which were previously controlled by Iraqi pro-Iranian militias. Following the agreement, the militias supported by Iran began to gradually pull out of the areas agreed upon in the deal, while the Russian forces began deploying forces to these locations, which are located at the front of the campaign against ISIS in the region.”
Regarding the fighters of the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade, a militia operating under the guidance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria, the report said that most of the Afghan fighters dispatched to Syria have left the country, and only about two thousand Afghan fighters remain in Syria.