[CNN] It is like many of the images of aftermath in Syria's chaotic war -- a man being pulled from the rubble of the building. But this one is different. The panic is muted, the men dig not slowly, but leisurely. This is because they know he is a regime fighter."Where are your friends?" they ask, perhaps taunting him. "Are you from Yemen?" But no, this is something different.
As they pull his terrified, tired frame from the dust, the blood seeping from a head wound and pitted against the white coat of silt from the rubble, it becomes clear this regime fighter is Afghan.
Video obtained by CNN from Syrian rebels, which we cannot verify, shows this scene and the attempts by the rebels, who are engaged in a pitched battle to prevent the regime encircling the main Syrian city of Aleppo, to interrogate their new prisoner. That's the first indication there's something new here: he doesn't speak Arabic, but mutters in Dari. Facially, he appears Uzbek or Hazara, and is terrified.
Their video shows him bandaged up, and on an IV drip. He is locked in a basement and fed, then questioned further. A comparatively generous fate for a regime prisoner in this savage war.
It is unclear what happened to him, but he told his interrogators: "My name is Sayed Ahmad Hussaini. The Iranians pay people like me to come here and fight. I am from Afghanistan and I am an immigrant in Iran. The Iranians brought us to Syria to fight to defend the Zainab shrine. I don't want to fight anymore."
He says he wants to go home, and that he was paid about $500 a month to fight. There are many Afghan immigrants in Iran, trying to find some shelter from the decades of war that have torn apart their land. He says he was trained and then sent to assist the regime.
It is potentially a serious development in the Syrian war, and explains in some ways how the Syrian regime has gained ground in some areas after months of appearing exhausted.
In the fight for Aleppo, they are fiercely contesting a hill settlement called Handarat, which is itself tiny, but vitally overlooks the main supply road into rebel held areas of Aleppo. If the regime hold Handarat, they can cut off rebel Aleppo from resupply, effectively besieging it. Seasoned Afghan fighters could assist the regime - so far letting the Coalition and moderate Syrian rebels take on ISIS -- in other battles too.
CNN sent a photojournalist to eastern Afghanistan to follow up reports of recruitment by Iranian agents of mercenaries to fight for the regime.
Inside Afghanistan
In one village, four men who did not want their identity or location revealed, said they had just returned from training in Iran. There, they were taken to a cop shoppe, blindfolded, and taken to a training camp where they were shown tactics and light to medium weapons.
The men spoke in great detail about their experiences and were able to show the Iranian bank cards through which they will be paid their $500 to $1000 salaries a month. Other villagers ratified their stories.
Their motivations were complicated. Most said they sought money - a likely motivation as the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
drawdown in Afghanistan is changing the Taliban's dynamics and reducing the amount of money sloshing around in the country. They also wanted to fight America -- saying that fighting the moderate Syrian rebels the regime is targeting most heavily and who receive U.S. assistance - was one way of continuing this fight from Afghanistan.