The Institute of War Study: Iran will fill Wagner’s gape in Syria
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) expected that Wagner members would withdraw in compliance with the ultimatum issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense, which forced them to join the Russian army or look for new job.
The institute confirmed in its study that Tehran will fill the void left by the Wagner fighters, especially those areas that are located on the borders of natural wealth sources in the Syrian desert, the most important of which is phosphate, adding that these moves and plans coincide with the signing of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, who concluded his visit to Beijing, an agreement to invest in them, and betting on Chinese companies to develop their industry, both on Iranian and Syrian territory.
It’s likely that Iran will assume control of some of their sites, which will allow it to expand its economic operations in the Syrian desert, according to the report, which indicated that officials at Wagner would prefer to transfer control of their sites and assets in Syria to Iran, instead of the Russian Ministry of Defense, After Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in his plane crash a month ago.
According to the report, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its external wing, the Quds Force, are currently negotiating with the cohesive and powerful Wagner elements in Syria to convince them to replace them in their positions and warehouses in Syria.
If this step succeeds, the Revolutionary Guard forces and Iran behind them will have ensured a permanent and comfortable presence in the Syrian desert region, which constitutes a route for transporting weapons and military equipment to its allies in the region, in addition to containing one of the largest known global reserves of phosphate.
It’s noteworthy that the Commander of the Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, had visited Syria during the past few days and supervised military maneuvers and training for Syrian forces with members of the Revolutionary Guard.
