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Iranian Campaign to Promote Persian Language in Northeastern Syria

Iran has begun to intensify its efforts to recruit children and teach them the Persian language (Photo: SOHR).
Iran has begun to intensify its efforts to recruit children and teach them the Persian language (Photo: SOHR).
    Deir Ezzor, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iranian Campaign to Promote Persian Language in Northeastern Syria

Iran has begun to intensify its efforts to recruit children and teach them the Persian language (Photo: SOHR).
Iran has begun to intensify its efforts to recruit children and teach them the Persian language (Photo: SOHR).

Iran has begun to intensify its efforts to recruit children and teach them the Persian language in its areas of influence, especially in northeastern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Monday that Iran was deploying all efforts to consolidate its presence in Syria in major aspects of life.

“Iran continues its efforts to strengthen its presence in Syria through attracting the Syrian men, women, youth and children, by instilling its ideology in the Syrian society,” the Observatory said on its website.

In this context, SOHR sources in al-Mayadeen city, the capital of the Iranian forces and their proxy militias in west Euphrates region, have reported that the “Iranian Cultural Center” started a free course dubbed “Bara’em al-Atfal” (Children Buds) for teaching Syrian children Persian language. This is the second course of its kind, as the first one was held in mid-September 2020.

Like the earlier course, the Cultural Center has promised to give cash rewards of one million Syrian pounds each to every children who could pass the Persian language test with an excellent grade. Tens of children headed to the Culture Center, SOHR reported.

In December, SOHR sources said that the Iranian Cultural Center in Deir Ezzor city arranged a trip for school students to “Al-Asdeqaa Park” in Hawija Sakr area, as a part of the Iranians’ attempts to impress residents and instill their ideology in the Syrian society in areas under their control in Deir Ezzor province.

The Iranian Cultural Center in al-Mayadeen launched free evening courses, on Sep. 15, aimed at teaching primary-school students the Persian language. Officials at the Center informed students and their parents that a cash reward of one million Syrian pounds will be given to every children who could pass the Persian language test with an excellent grade.

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Prosecutor: Iranians Spied on London-based Journalists 'on Behalf of' Tehran

Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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Prosecutor: Iranians Spied on London-based Journalists 'on Behalf of' Tehran

Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Three Iranian men went on trial Tuesday charged with spying for Iran, allegedly laying the ground for a violent attack against at least one London-based journalist.

The Iranian nationals visited addresses linked to people including two journalists working for the Farsi-language Iran International television news network, which Tehran has labelled a terror organization.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, Farhad Manesh, 46, and Shapoor Noori, 57, who have all pleaded not guilty, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court in London accompanied by translators.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told the jury the three were accused of conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, "in other words ... they spied on people of interest to the Iranian regime".

The trio undertook surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and February 2025 with Sepahvand allegedly earmarked to carry out any attack, he said.

The trial would focus on steps taken "on behalf of the Iranian regime to target journalists and others considered to be hostile to or even just critical".

Iran International, which is based in London, had been critical of the Iranian government and supportive of opposition groups, he said.

The three accused did not deny visiting the addresses and taking photos and videos, but Sepahvand said he had been coerced and acted out of fear.

According to AFP, Manesh and Noori told the court they were not aware that what they were doing was to assist the Iranian intelligence services.

Emlyn Jones told the jury their intention was to "locate and target at least two journalists associated with ... Iran International and others".

"Their ultimate objective was that one or more of their targets would be subjected to serious violence, no doubt as retribution for their criticism of the Iranian regime and to try to silence and deter others who might dare to voice their criticism," he added.

The three defendants, all from London, are all charged under the National Security Act.

Sepahvand is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention to commit serious violence.

Manesh and Noori are also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence would be committed by others.

The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.

World

Pupil Wounds 8 Girls in Istanbul School Knife Attack

30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
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Pupil Wounds 8 Girls in Istanbul School Knife Attack

30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

A teenage girl wounded eight girls at a middle school in Istanbul on Tuesday, as she reportedly stabbed pupils indiscriminately with a knife, officials said.

The incident occurred around 8:40 am (0540 GMT) at a school in Basaksehir in the northwestern part of the city.

The alleged attacker, said to be a 15-year-old 10th grade student from another school, has been detained by police.

Writing on X, Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said there were "eight people injured in the incident -- one in critical condition, and two in moderate-to-serious condition," who were being treated in hospital.

Speaking to reporters, Istanbul Governor Davut Gul said the attacker, who was wearing a school uniform, had stabbed the youngsters "indiscriminately".

"Five of pupils sustained minor injuries, they are likely to be discharged later today. Two are in a serious condition. One is currently undergoing surgery," he said.

"The pupil who carried out the attack lives in the same neighborhood and attends a different school. She entered the premises wearing school uniform and stabbed the children indiscriminately."

Basaksehir district governor Cemil Ozgur Onegi, who gave an injured toll of seven, said the attack was carried out by a high school student, AFP reported.

"Seven female students were injured as a result of a knife attack carried out by F.M., a 10th-grade student" from a high school in another district.

Last month, a teenager opened fire outside a school in western Türkiye, wounding 11 pupils, three of whom were seriously hurt, before being arrested.

In April, there were two back-to-back shooting attacks by teenagers on consecutive days in southern Türkiye that shocked the nation and sparked public concerns about security in Turkish schools.

World

Ukrainian Drones Kill Two, Hit Fuel Hub in One of Biggest Attacks on Moscow Region, Russian War Bloggers Say

Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
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Ukrainian Drones Kill Two, Hit Fuel Hub in One of Biggest Attacks on Moscow Region, Russian War Bloggers Say

Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova

Ukrainian drones killed two people and hit a major fuel depot overnight in one of the biggest attacks of the war on Moscow and the surrounding region, Russian military bloggers said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Ukraine had launched more than 650 drones towards the capital, most of which were shot down.

Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region which surrounds the capital, said that 185 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed or brought down over his region. He said seven people had been injured and that 47 houses, 4 apartments and 3 cars had been damaged, according to Reuters.

Prominent ‌war blogger Yuri ‌Podolyaka said an oil storage tank was hit ‌at ⁠the Volodarskaya oil storage ⁠and distribution facility, the biggest in the Moscow region. The facility stores diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. There was no official confirmation that it had been hit.

Volodarskaya is one of the major hubs in the distribution system of state pipeline monopoly Transneft and is linked to Moscow's main oil refinery. It supplies fuel to all three of the capital's large airports.

A ⁠Ukrainian war blog, Supernova+, published video purporting to show ‌a huge blaze at the site. ‌Reuters could not immediately verify it.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted oil refineries, depots and export ‌terminals in an effort to deprive Moscow of the revenues it ‌needs to finance the war that Russia began in February 2022.

Podolyaka and other Russian bloggers said, without citing evidence, that Ukraine's overnight attack was also intended to hit the Moscow oil refinery in the southeast of the capital, but that ‌Russian air defenses had prevented this.

The refinery, just inside the city ring road, has been hit several times, ⁠most recently ⁠on September 20, the main day of voting in Russia's parliamentary election.

Russia has recently intensified attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, sending waves of missiles and drones by night and day. Its latest targets have included bridges across the Dnipro river.

Vorobyov, the head of the Moscow region, said the body of a 71-year-old man had been pulled from under the rubble of a house and that a 20-year-old man had been killed in a nearby village.

The head of the town of Domodedovo, south of Moscow and home to the country's third-largest airport, said work was under way to restore electricity to villages that had been hit by drones.