0:00:01 > 0:00:04for President Assad.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07SHOUTING AND RAPID GUNFIRE.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17As Syria's brutal civil war enters its fifth year,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20it has become a proxy conflict, drawing in actors
0:00:20 > 0:00:22from across the world.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26EXPLOSION.
0:00:26 > 0:00:33Rebel ranks have been bolstered by waves of foreign jihadists.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37But the rebels are not the only ones importing manpower.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Iran has mobilised a multi-national Shia militia army to prop up
0:00:39 > 0:00:48the Assad regime.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Among them, thousands of Afghan men recruited from impoverished
0:00:50 > 0:00:51and vulnerable migrant communities, living
0:00:51 > 0:00:55inside Iran itself.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09GUNFIRE.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11The Afghan fighters are being deployed on the most
0:01:11 > 0:01:15dangerous front lines.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18You might ask why Afghan men with very little training
0:01:18 > 0:01:20are all of a sudden thrown onto the battlefield
0:01:20 > 0:01:22in a vicious war.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28Well, the fact is, they are cannon fodder.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31From the streets of Iran to the heart of the international
0:01:31 > 0:01:33migration crisis...
0:01:33 > 0:01:38CHILD CRIES.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40I am Fariba Sahraei, an Iranian investigative reporter
0:01:40 > 0:01:47working for the BBC.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50I want to uncover the secrets of Iran's Foreign Legion,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52the Afghan men sent to fight and die
0:01:52 > 0:01:53for President Assad.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Allahu Akbar!
0:02:07 > 0:02:14Dramatic footage from Southern Syria.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20A group of rebel fighters has just captured some of the enemy.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26But suddenly, there is confusion.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31The terrified captives don't speak Arabic and are not Iranian.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Their faces suggest they may not even be from the Middle East.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49This phone clip is evidence of a covert war, where some
0:02:49 > 0:02:51of the region's poorest people are being used to fight
0:02:51 > 0:02:55in a foreign conflict.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10The same men later appear in a Syrian rebel propaganda video.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16It turns out all of the prisoners are Afghans.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Iran is alleged to have recruited over 10,000 Afghan fighters
0:03:48 > 0:03:50from impoverished Afghan-Shia communities inside Iran.
0:03:56 > 0:03:57SOLDIER: Enayat Hosseini?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Hm.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25I want to find out the truth behind Iran's policy of sending thousands
0:04:25 > 0:04:31of Afghan men to fight in Syria.
0:04:31 > 0:04:37I have come to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to meet a contact.
0:04:43 > 0:04:52Mujtaba Jalili is in an Iranian born Afghan photographer.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Recently, he had been documenting an increasing number
0:04:55 > 0:04:59of unusual military funerals in his home city Mashhad in Iran.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02They were all for Afghans who had been killed after volunteering
0:05:02 > 0:05:10to fight in Syria.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Mujtaba says he fled Iran after being detained for secretly
0:05:16 > 0:05:17filming a recruitment centre for Afghan fighters
0:05:17 > 0:05:21destined for Syria.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41He shows me his footage, which the BBC is unable
0:05:41 > 0:05:45to independently verify.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50The alleged recruitment office is in a mosque in a mainly Afghan
0:05:50 > 0:05:53neighbourhood of Mashhad.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Using a mosque is deliberate.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00The Revolutionary Guards appeal to the Afghan's
0:06:00 > 0:06:06devout religious beliefs.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08They tell them terrorists are attacking Shia Muslim shrines
0:06:08 > 0:06:12in Syria and that anyone who dies defending them will become a martyr.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16They also offer them cash and residency permits.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14But why are Afghans being sent to Syria in the first place?
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Around 2.5 million Afghans leaving Iran - some fled the Russian
0:07:25 > 0:07:28invasion more than 30 years ago.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Others escaped from the Taliban, and more recent conflicts.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Some have lived there for generations.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Others were born in Iran.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39But few have basic rights or legal residency.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42This makes them vulnerable to encouragement or even coercion
0:07:42 > 0:07:48by Iran to fight for President Assad.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50The background to the entry of the Afghan militias
0:07:50 > 0:07:52goes back to 2012.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56It was at that time that the Iranian Revolutionary
0:07:56 > 0:07:59It was at that time that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards decided
0:07:59 > 0:08:02that the Syrian military could not succeed on their own.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05The front lines were too depleted, there were not enough military
0:08:05 > 0:08:08to move to all the different battlefields across the country,
0:08:08 > 0:08:14and men were trying to avoid conscription.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18So, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, General Jafari,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22said publicly in September 2012, "We will create a force of 50,000
0:08:22 > 0:08:26"men, the national defence forces.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30"This militia will work alongside the Syrian military".
0:08:33 > 0:08:35But 50,000?
0:08:35 > 0:08:43They don't necessarily get that number just by going after Syrians.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47They look to other countries that will provide in effect what is now
0:08:47 > 0:08:49a mixed militia of Syrians and foreign troops
0:08:49 > 0:08:51that are increasingly involved on the front lines.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54If you know where to look, there is plenty of evidence
0:08:54 > 0:08:57of Afghans in Syria to be found online.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03SHOUTING AND GUNFIRE.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Afghan fighters have even set up their own private Facebook group,
0:09:14 > 0:09:19which I have managed to join.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33My new online contacts put me in touch with a former fighter
0:09:33 > 0:09:39turned asylum seeker who says he is willing to talk.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50So, I am heading to Germany to meet him face to face.
0:09:50 > 0:09:57Amir, as we will call him, says he completed three tours
0:09:57 > 0:10:00of duty in Syria as part of an all Afghan called Fatemioun
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Brigade.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31He tells me the Fatemioun fighters' military training was both
0:10:31 > 0:10:37very short and conducted in strict secrecy.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Amir shows me photographs of himself in Syria.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08He says the Revolutionary Guards told him he would be helping
0:11:08 > 0:11:11to defend Shia Muslim sides against Isis,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14and they offered him incentives.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43Some are motivated by religious reasons, but poverty and the lack
0:11:43 > 0:11:51of legal residency are the main reasons Afghans living in Iran
0:11:51 > 0:11:55accept the Revolutionary Guards Syrian offer.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00To find out more, I have come to a Dutch asylum processing centre.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08The Smaili family are Afghans who left Iran because they faced
0:12:08 > 0:12:12severe restrictions on all aspects of their life.
0:12:51 > 0:12:57In Iran, most Afghan children have to study illegally, using false IDs.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00And most still have to pay to access state schools that
0:13:00 > 0:13:03are free for Iranians.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I asked them why they left Iran.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Bye bye!
0:14:29 > 0:14:34The Ismaili family are not the only ones.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38I have come to Lesbos Island in Greece.
0:14:38 > 0:14:45First port of call for many migrants fleeing the Middle East.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50High in the hils, an amazing sight.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Mountains of abundant life jackets - a testimony
0:14:54 > 0:14:59to the scale of the Exodus.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Hundreds of thousands of Afghans are part of this site,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and among them, former fighters from the Fatemioun Brigade
0:15:05 > 0:15:11who fled the Syrian war.
0:15:11 > 0:15:20But tracking them down here won't be easy.
0:15:20 > 0:15:26Thousands of desperate people are still crossing every day.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28One Afghan man tells me he was detained at the border
0:15:28 > 0:15:33as he was leaving Iran.
0:16:20 > 0:16:30After the migrants leave the beaches of Lesbos,
0:16:32 > 0:16:33They
0:16:33 > 0:16:33They are
0:16:33 > 0:16:33They are sent
0:16:33 > 0:16:43They are sent here.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45A former Greek army base.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Here, people's personal details and fingerprints are supposed to be
0:16:47 > 0:16:50locked before they get permission to travel on to mainland Greece.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56In the freezing weather, I start looking for ex-fighters.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01I get lucky.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04I find a 19-year-old Afghan man who tells me he fought in Damascus
0:17:04 > 0:17:07and Aleppo for almost six months.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10He paints a hellish picture of a war where Afghan fighters
0:17:10 > 0:17:16are disposable.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52This is the ferry port of Mytilene.
0:18:52 > 0:18:59The capital of Lesbos.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06Every day, thousands of migrants come here to embark on the next
0:19:06 > 0:19:11stage of their epic journey to mainland Europe.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41I spot a group of young Afghan men travelling together.
0:19:41 > 0:19:47It seems they all fought in Syria, and one is willing to talk.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51He tells me the Iranian authorities coerced him into going to war,
0:19:51 > 0:19:57but when he got back to Iran, they broke their promises.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47He shows me his dog tags and the temporary residency papers
0:20:47 > 0:20:52he earned by going to war.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Escaping to Europe just isn't an option for some
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Fatemioun members.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42In February, a rebel group released this video of some prisoners
0:21:42 > 0:21:52they had been hoping to exchange with the regime.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55It is the same four Afghan men we saw captured
0:21:55 > 0:22:02in footage over a year ago.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04But the rebels say the Revolutionary Guards were not interested
0:22:04 > 0:22:06in getting the Afghan POWs back.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10So, they have remained in prison.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13But at least they are alive.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Another day in Mashhad.
0:22:23 > 0:22:29Another funeral for fallen Afghan fighters in Iran.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32There are no official figures for how many Fatemioun fighters have
0:22:33 > 0:22:39been killed in Syria.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42The Iranian Foreign Ministry has denied Tehran is sending any Afghans
0:22:42 > 0:22:47to fight there at all.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50A martyr's sendoff like this one might provide some solace or even
0:22:50 > 0:22:54pride for the families of the dead.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56But photographer Mujtaba Jalili, who filmed this footage,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58thinks the Iranian authorities are cynically exploiting
0:22:58 > 0:23:02the entire situation.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52It doesn't matter if they Afghans don't win as long as they absorb
0:23:52 > 0:23:54the rebel attacks, as long as they provide a barrier
0:23:55 > 0:23:56to the rebels being able to advance.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59That is a battle that Iran has fought before.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03It fought it with its own people in the 1980s against Iraq.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06And now we happen to see it in a different theatre,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08where we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people
0:24:08 > 0:24:11who have been killed and will continue to be killed,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13and in that type of battle, any Afghan man is valuable
0:24:13 > 0:24:20simply for his body, not for anything else.
0:24:24 > 0:24:30Back in Holland, there is no guarantee that Ali his family
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Back in Holland, there is no guarantee that Ali and his family
0:24:33 > 0:24:36will be allowed to stay.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38But he hopes to find a country he can call home,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and where he will not have to risk dying in a foreign war
0:24:41 > 0:24:42to get an ID card.