A doctor close to #BassamHassan has also acknowledged treating #AustinTice.
Early in #Syria’s civil war, Hassan worked w/ #Iran to help establish a paramilitary force known as the National Defense Forces [#NDF], which received funding & training from Tehran. The NDF…was modeled after Iran’s #Basij, a plainclothes #militia under the umbrella of the Revolutionary Guards [#IRGC].
The BBC reported that Tice had been held by the NDF at one point.