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Source: https://www.mei.edu/publications/iran-redeploys-amid-covid-19-russia-filling-vacuum-eastern-syria
Iran Redeploys in Syria amid Covid-19
(Middle East Institute) Nick Grinstead - It is now fairly well documented that the coronavirus outbreak in Syria initially hit Iranian fighters and Iranian-supported units hardest. By April 12, 40 pro-Iranian militia fighters had been taken to hospitals in Syria with Covid-19. Russia reacted by ordering both Russian troops and Syrian regime units supported by Russia to separate from Iranian militias in mid-March, at a time when the Syrian government was still denying the existence of Covid-19 cases in the country. The reality is that Iran has not withdrawn from Syria but rather redeployed and repositioned Iranian and proxy forces throughout the country. At the same time, Russia has exploited Iran's repositioning in Syria to move its forces to fill the void left by the redeployed pro-Iranian militias. For example, in Deir ez-Zor, the largest city in eastern Syria, pro-Iranian militia units handed over control of a number of checkpoints to Syrian forces under the supervision of Russian military police and the Jerusalem Brigade, which is supervised by the Russian Wagner Group. Northwest of Deir ez-Zor in Raqqa Province, Russia stepped in when pro-government National Defense Forces (NDF) units complained that they hadn't been paid by their Iranian and Syrian patrons for months. The NDF fighters cited the coronavirus as the reason why payments from Iran's Revolutionary Guards had ceased. By mid-May, Iranian-supported forces had withdrawn completely from the Maadan area as pro-Russian NDF units deployed. However, the repositioning should be viewed as a shift in priorities away from eastern Syria to the southwest, closer to Israel.