Syrian regime army suffers food shortage as Iran cuts off supplies

Iran has stopped subsidizing food supplies for the Syrian regime’s army, the Arabic news website Arabi 21 reported on Friday.

Arabi 21 quoted an “informed military source”, who requested to remain anonymous, as saying that Iran has been cutting back its spending in Syria.

Iran has been one of the Assad regime’s key backers in the Syrian conflict.

The source said that for the past three month the amount of food supplied to Syrian regime soldiers has been decreasing gradually, and it id now not enough for daily sustenance.

Anger has been increasing in the Syrian regime army as a result, particularly among reserve soldiers, according to the source. He told Arabi 21, “As well as the lack of food, morale has been collapsing and there is a sense of disappointment among soldiers because there have been no demobilization decrees either for conscripts or the reserve.”

Most of the Syrian regime army is made up of conscripted soldiers, who are forced to fight against fellow Syrians who oppose the regime. Forcible regime conscription is one of the most important reasons why young Syrian men flee their country and seek refuge abroad.

The Syrian regime has been engaged in assault on rebel-held Idlib province since last April. While hundreds of civilians have been killed and more than 400,000 have been displaced, the regime’s offensive on the ground has so far been unsuccessful.

Arabi 21’s source predicted that regime soldiers could desert as a result of the lack of food.

In August 2018, Iran and the Assad regime signed a defence pact under which Iran would supply the Syrian army.

However, disagreements emerged between Iran and the regime, after the regime rejected an Iranian plan to integrate “local defence militias” that it had formed into the regime army. Iranian-backed militias have not participated in the regime’s Idlib offensive and this is one of the reasons why it has stalled.

Iran has also been severely affected by US sanctions, which have limited its capacity to provide aid to the Syrian regime.

More than 500,000 people have been killed and millions displaced as a result of the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 when the Assad regime brutally suppressed peaceful protests calling for reform.