Iran evacuating troops from Syria amid rebel offensive - NYT

Regional officials and three Iranian officials told the American media that Iranian military personnel and staff members had started to be evacuated from Syria.

Details of the evacuation

It is reported that senior commanders from the Quds Force, one of the five external branches of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have already been evacuated to neighboring Iraq and Lebanon.

Iranian officials and regional authorities also revealed to journalists that they had evacuated members of the Revolutionary Guards, some Iranian diplomatic staff, their families, and Iranian civilians.

"Iranians began to leave Syria on Friday morning," the NYT reports, citing officials speaking anonymously to discuss a sensitive issue.

The evacuation is said to be taking place at the Iranian embassy in Damascus and at IRGC bases.

Some individuals being evacuated are being transferred by air to Tehran, while others are leaving by land to Lebanon, Iraq, and the Syrian port of Latakia.

Reason for the evacuation

According to Iranian analyst Mehdi Rahmati, who advises officials on regional strategy, Tehran is "starting to evacuate its forces and military personnel because we cannot fight as an advisory and support force if Syria’s army itself does not want to fight."

"The bottom line is that Iran has realized that it cannot manage the situation in Syria right now with any military operation, and this option is off the table," Rahmati added in a conversation with the media.

The American press notes that the evacuation orders marked a significant turning point for Assad, whose government Iran has supported throughout Syria's 13-year civil war, as well as for Tehran, which has used Syria as a key route for supplying weapons to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Iranian forces in Syria

For a long time, Iran, like Russia, another key ally of Assad’s regime, has sent advisors and commanders to Syria’s bases and frontlines. Tehran has also supported various armed groups in the country.

Iran deployed tens of thousands of fighters, including Iranians, Afghans, and Pakistani Shias, to protect Assad's government and reclaim territories from the Islamic State (ISIS) during the height of the civil war.

Some of the Iranian forces, such as the Afghan Fatemiyoun brigade, have remained in Syria at military bases controlled by Iran.

On December 6, this brigade was also deployed to Damascus and Latakia, which are considered strongholds of Assad’s forces, according to Iranian officials who spoke to American journalists.

Fleeing Iranian generals

Amid a major rebel offensive in Syria, which saw the capture of large cities like Aleppo and Hama in just over a week, as well as territory in four provinces, and with rebels advancing on Damascus, two senior Iranian Quds Force generals fled to Iraq.

The New York Times reports that these generals had previously been deployed to advise the Syrian army and evacuated after rebels captured Homs and Deir al-Zour on Friday.

Iran watches Syria on the brink of collapse

"Syria is on the verge of collapse, and we are watching calmly," wrote Iranian parliament member Ahmad Naderi on social media on December 6.

He added that if Damascus falls, Iran will also lose its influence in Iraq and Lebanon.

On December 2, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence reported that Russian forces had withdrawn from the Syrian city of Hama and were fleeing from Damascus.

Additionally, on December 6, the leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, stated that the rebels’ main goal remains the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as well as "building a new Syria."