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“Despite many casualties, they are moving forward in the advance,” a fighter says.
The oddity is that he is not speaking Arabic, but Persian. The man himself is Afghan, a member of a 10-20,000-strong Afghan army recruited in Iran to fight the war in Syria.
The reconquest of Palmyra was presented to the world as a victory for Assad forces.
As ISIS jihadists fled, regime troops forced their way into the town, known for its celebrated Roman ruins. Everyone from Russian apparatchiks to British conservative politicians congratulated Mr Assad for reclaiming the town for civilisation.
The role of the Russian air force in preparing the way for the ground advance was noted: this was the anti-ISIS alliance promised at the start of Russian military intervention in Syria but which in practice seemed slow to make gains.
In fact, it is now clear it was an eccentric multinational force that took Palmyra. Analysis of photographs, social media posts and Iranian, Russian and even Syrian media has shown that the path was led by the Russians, with much of the “grunt” work done by Afghan Shia and Iraqi militiamen under generals from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Diplomats and analysts say it is unclear who will actually be able to control and run liberated areas.
“The danger here is that the various actors, particularly the US and Russia, in their rush to declare immediate results, overlook the long-term components of stability in this area,” said Noah Bonsey, who monitors the conflict for the International Crisis Group.
Since then, unchallenged reports have appeared in a St Petersburg newspaper, Fontanka, that a private Russian mercenary company was taking part in the Syria campaign - and taking casualties. Some members reported taking part in the battle for Palmyra.
The Russians played an advance role in the attack on Palmyra. But the final surge came only after Iran poured in troops, a desperate surge in reinforcements after the attack had been seemingly held up.
The army was already heavily supplemented by Iran-trained Shia militias from Iraq, and by Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese ally.
Assad marines were diverted from the defence of Latakia - President Assad’s home province - but suffered a disaster when, according to reports, they were hit by Russian Air Force “friendly fire” and 17 killed.
Units of Syria’s own Iran-trained militias, the National Defence Forces were added, before finally fighters from the Afghan Shia Fatemiyoun Brigade - those seen in the video - arrived.
"Beside the Iranians, there are Iraqi, Afghani fighters. The Lebanese Hezbollah is there but not with large numbers.”
“For now, both Russia and Iran have an interest in the survival of the regime,” said Nikolay Kozhanov, a former Russian diplomat in Iran and now an analyst. “But they clearly understand that when it comes to the long-term future of Syria, they will be concentrating on different things. There are bound to be clashes.”
