AFGHANISTAN, July 28 - Iran-backed militias withdrew from unspecified positions in Deir ez Zor Province and redeployed to the Syrian desert near the Iraq-Syria border, possibly as part of a coercive campaign to expel the United States from Syria. Iranian-backed militias deployed to lines of control with the SDF between July 7 and 20. The militias moved to the positions notionally because Russian forces expressed concerns that the United States would conduct an attack in Deir ez Zor Province. UK-based anti-Syrian regime media The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Iranian-backed militias reduced their forces” ”significantly and suddenly“ on July 26 to prevent a US offensive, despite there being no indications that the SDF or US are planning an incursion into regime-controlled territory. The redeployment is part of a trend that CTP has observed since early July, however, in which Iranian-backed forces have deployed to the central Syrian desert. The IRGC QF ordered dozens of military vehicles of the Iranian-affiliated Syrian Arab Army 47th Regiment and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to deploy on July 11 to military points approximately 35 kilometers from the 55-kilometer exclusion zone around the Al Tanf Garrison. The PMF also deployed to unspecified positions in the desert near Albu Kamal on July 26. Iranian leaders have signaled preparation to resume its campaign to expel US forces from the Middle East by attacking and killing US service members.