WASHINGTON — Iranian military advisers in Syria are forming a new militia in the country under their supervision to boost an Iranian agenda in the region, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said in a recent report that Iran has recruited at least 1,200 militiamen from different parts of Syria to form the new military force.

The report said the vast majority of this new militia’s fighters are Syrian nationals, functioning differently from the other Iranian-sponsored brigades that have been formed to fight in Syria in recent years.

“This is part of a bill agreed upon between Tehran and Damascus in May 2017,” an Iranian defense reporter was quoted as saying by the Voice of America (VOA).

The axis of resistance is a term used by pro-Iranian groups that refers to an ideological-military alliance between Iran, Syria and other Shiite groups.

An Arabic-language, pro-Syrian opposition news website, Zaman Al-Wasel, reported in late 2018 that it had obtained a Syrian defense ministry document approving a plan to give Iran more operational autonomy inside Syria.

Iran’s plans to form additional militias in Syria are part of an overall strategy to put down roots for the long term in the war-torn country, according to Seth Frantzman, executive director of the US-based think tank the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis (MECRA). — Agencies