Avi Dichter. Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90.

JNS.org – Iran now commands a force of tens of thousands of Shi’a fighters in Syria, an Israeli official said in a briefing Wednesday.

“This is a foreign legion of some 25,000 militants, most of whom have come from Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Avi Dichter, a former director of Israel’s Shin Bet and chair of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committees, told a delegation from the Swiss Parliament, the Jerusalem Post reported. “They are fighting in Syria only against the rebels and not against ISIS.”

Ditcher said Iran has also “enlisted Hezbollah…because the Iranian army is better suited to fight as an army against another army, while the Hezbollah militants are adept at fighting against terror groups.”

“The fighting has made them [Hezbolah] a better fighting force and more adept in conventional military warfare,” Dichter added.