Nonilex<p>A doctor close to <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/BassamHassan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BassamHassan</span></a> has also acknowledged treating <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/AustinTice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AustinTice</span></a>.</p><p>Early in <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Syria" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Syria</span></a>’s civil war, Hassan worked w/ <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Iran" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Iran</span></a> to help establish a paramilitary force known as the National Defense Forces [<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/NDF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NDF</span></a>], which received funding &amp; training from Tehran. The NDF…was modeled after Iran’s <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Basij" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Basij</span></a>, a plainclothes <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/militia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>militia</span></a> under the umbrella of the Revolutionary Guards [<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/IRGC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IRGC</span></a>].</p><p>The BBC reported that Tice had been held by the NDF at one point.</p><p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/journalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>journalism</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/WarCorrespondence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WarCorrespondence</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Assad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Assad</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/WarCrimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WarCrimes</span></a></p>