Suspicious Iranian Movements Near Syrian-Iraqi Borders after Israeli Bombing

 Smoke is seen following an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, July 15, 2017. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
Smoke is seen following an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, July 15, 2017. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
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Suspicious Iranian Movements Near Syrian-Iraqi Borders after Israeli Bombing

 Smoke is seen following an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, July 15, 2017. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
Smoke is seen following an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, July 15, 2017. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)

Iranian militias have replaced their flags in their military sites and bases located in large areas of eastern Syria, with the flags of the Syrian regime, amid fears of a new Israeli attacks, according to local sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Sources in the cities of Al-Mayadin and Al-Bukamal, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, said that the IRGC transported ammunition and heavy weapons, including missiles, through refrigerators and trucks carrying Syrian plate numbers, as part of a camouflaged repositioning, days after the heaviest Israeli raids targeted eastern Syria.

Well-informed sources revealed that the Iranian forces and pro-Iranian militias continue to change their positions in this geographical area along the Iraqi borders, pointing to “suspicious” movements of the Iranians and their allies in that region.

According to the Jusoor Center for Studies and Development, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is deployed in 125 locations throughout Syria, distributed over 10 governorates, mainly Daraa in the South, which includes 37 military posts, followed by Damascus and its countryside with 22 sites and Aleppo in the north, with 15 military points and headquarters.

The Deir Ezzor Governorate has 13 Iranian posts, the largest of which are located in the cities of Al-Mayadeen and Al-Bukamal.

Iran has been one of the largest military forces supporting the ruling regime in Syria, after Russia, since the outbreak of the anti-regime protests in the spring of 2011.

Local activists, SOHR and the Jusoor Center reported that most Iranian fighters in Syria operate within the ranks of the IRGC and are deployed in southern Damascus, the southern countryside of Aleppo, the eastern countryside of Homs, and the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.



Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar sl-Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its armed proxies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that Tehran did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.