Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — The new paramilitary force of President Bashar Assad has
been rapidly expanding amid Iranian funding and victories over Sunni rebels.

Opposition sources said the new National Defense Force, organized in
late 2012, has been adding thousands of new fighters over the last month.

The sources said the force, trained by the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah, has grown by 20 percent to 60,000 troops.

“NDF pays much better than the Syrian Army, and fighters usually can
stay in their hometowns,” a source said. “This has been a real incentive for
Alawites as well as Sunnis.”

The sources said about 70 percent of NDF consists of fighters from the
ruling Alawite minority. But they said an increasing number of Kurds and
even Sunnis, drawn by salaries and other financial incentives, were joining
the force.

A chief incentive by NDF was the permission to loot rebel strongholds in
Sunni towns and cities throughout Syria. The sources said this has resulted
in increased brutality against Sunni civilians, particularly those who own
businesses and property.

“Whoever gets to the loot first, keeps it,” the source said. “This
motivated these fighters to enter areas that the Syrian Army had kept away
from.”

The sources said NDF replaced by the Syrian Army in most urban warfare
operations. They said the Army, 70 percent of which is Sunni, has been
confined to stand-off operations, particularly artillery attacks, sniper and
mop-up duties.

Syrian Army and Hizbullah officers often accompany NDF units, the
sources said. They said Hizbullah has been limited to training and leading
operations in central and southern Syria, while bearing the brunt of combat
duties near the southwestern border with Lebanon.

“Hizbullah has shown a high degree of professionalism and competency,”
the source said.

  Alawite, Bashar Assad, Hizbullah-trained Syrian militias expanding reach with incentives, Iran funding, National Defense Force