Tensions Mount between Iran Revolutionary Guards, Syrian Regime Officers in Albou Kamal

Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.
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Tensions Mount between Iran Revolutionary Guards, Syrian Regime Officers in Albou Kamal

Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.

Syrian opposition media reported on mounting tensions between Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders and Syrian regime officers in Syria’s Euphrates region.

Iran is accusing regime officers stationed in Albou Kamal, a city situated east of Deir Ezzor governorate, of staging operations against Iran proxy militias in the area.

Syria’s Eye of Euphrates news network reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had summoned four regime officers, some who occupy posts in the military security apparatus.

They were given a strongly worded message by a Revolutionary Guard commander who goes by the alias “Haj Sajad” during a meeting in Albou Kamal.

Haj Sajad informed the officers that recent attacks that targeted Revolutionary Guard fighters in Albou Kamal city and its countryside were staged by regime officers.

He added that Iranian intelligence has opened investigations to identity attackers.

Based on testimonies of eyewitnesses, the Iranian commander ruled out the involvement of ISIS in the operation.

Locals reported spotting the person who targeted the Revolutionary Guard members, last Thursday, in one of Albou Kamal valleys and confirmed that he was wearing a Syrian regime military uniform.

Haj Sajad also revealed that “the motorcycle used by the bomber had been found abandoned near a farm.”

Revolutionary Guard fighters stationed in Albou Kamal desert were attacked twice this month. The first attack was on December 7.

Later, a drone strike near the Sabikhan town in Deir Ezzor hit a convoy of three vehicles transporting military experts who were assigned as an “inspection committee” from Iraq.

The experts - two Iraqis and an Iranian national - were killed.

They were initially deployed to probe Revolutionary Guard positions in Deir Ezzor and near the Syria-Iraq borders.

Eye of the Euphrates reported that the inspection committee had entered Syrian territories at the end of last week. It consisted of 15 military experts, divided into three groups, and each group includes experts from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.



UN Official Denies Israeli Claim Yemen Airport was Military Target

The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26  - AFP
The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - AFP
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UN Official Denies Israeli Claim Yemen Airport was Military Target

The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26  - AFP
The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - AFP

The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa's airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.

Israel said that it was targeting "military infrastructure" in Thursday's raids and that targets around the country were used by Houthis to "smuggle Iranian weapons" and bring in senior Iranian officials.

UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport "is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations."

"It's used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is used for civilian flights -- that is its purpose," he told reporters by video link from Yemen, AFP reported.

"Parties to the conflict have an obligation to ensure that they are not striking civilian targets," he added. "The obligation is on them, not on us. We don't need to prove we're civilians."

Harneis described how he, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and 18 other UN staff, were caught up in the attack, which he said also took place as a packed airliner was touching down nearby.

One UN staffer was seriously wounded in the strikes, which destroyed the air traffic control facility, Harneis said. The rest of the team was bundled into armored vehicles for safety.

"There was one airstrike approximately 300 meters (985 feet) to the south of us and another airstrike approximately 300 meters to the north of us," he said.

"What was most frightening about that airstrike wasn't the effect on us -- it's that the airstrikes took place... as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land," he said.

"In fact, that airliner from Yemenia Air was landing, taxiing in, when the air traffic control was destroyed."

Although the plane "was able to land safely... it could have been far, far worse."

The Israeli attack, he said came with "zero indication of any potential airstrikes."

Harneis said the airport is "absolutely vital" to continued humanitarian aid for Yemen. "If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations."

The United Nations has labeled Yemen "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world," with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.

Public institutions that provide healthcare, water, sanitation and education have collapsed in the wake of years of war.