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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjw4egp7lwno
Iran's Abandoned Bases in Syria
(BBC) Nafiseh Kohnavard - Forces stationed at a base that belonged to Iran and its affiliated groups near Khan Shaykhun town in Idlib province in Syria fled with little warning - with half-finished food, discarded military uniforms, and abandoned weapons. A watchtower painted in the colors of the Iranian flag overlooks the base. Sources told BBC Persian that the base housed mainly Afghan forces accompanied by Iranian military advisers and their Iranian commanders. Orders for retreat reached some bases at the very last moment. "The order was to just take your backpack and leave," a senior member of an Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary group tells me. Most of the forces fled to Iraq, while some were ordered to go to Lebanon or Russian bases to be evacuated from Syria. The new authorities have put a ban on Iranian nationals entering Syria. After years of expanding its military presence, everything Tehran built is now in ruins.