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Iran Uses Earthquake Relief Mission to Fly Weapons to Syria

Destruction following the Feb. 6 earthquakes in the countryside of Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria (Reuters)
Destruction following the Feb. 6 earthquakes in the countryside of Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria (Reuters)
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Iran Uses Earthquake Relief Mission to Fly Weapons to Syria

Destruction following the Feb. 6 earthquakes in the countryside of Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria (Reuters)
Destruction following the Feb. 6 earthquakes in the countryside of Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria (Reuters)

Iran used earthquake relief flights to bring weapons and military equipment into its strategic ally Syria, nine Syrian, Iranian, Israeli, and Western sources said.

The sources told Reuters that the goal was to buttress Iran's defenses against Israel in Syria and to strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters is the first to report this development.

After the Feb. 6 earthquakes in northern Syria and Turkiye, the sources said hundreds of flights from Iran began landing in Aleppo, Damascus, and Latakia airports bringing supplies, which went on for seven weeks.

The sources said two regional sources and a Western intelligence source said the supplies included advanced communications equipment, radar batteries, and spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria's Iran-provided air defense system in its civil war.

Reuters spoke to Western intelligence officials, sources close to the Iranian and Israeli leaders, a Syrian military defector, and a serving Syrian officer about the flights for this article.

When asked if Iran had used humanitarian relief planes after the earthquakes to move military equipment to Syria to enhance its network and help Assad, Iran's mission to the UN in New York said: "That's not true."

Regional sources said Israel quickly became aware of the flow of weapons into Syria and mounted an aggressive campaign to counter it.

The former head of research in the Israeli army and ex-general director of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, said Israeli air strikes against the shipments relied on intelligence so specific that Israel's military knew which truck in a long convoy to target.

- "Significant Moves"

An Israeli defense official, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Under the guise of shipments of earthquake aid to Syria, Israel has seen significant movements of military equipment from Iran, mainly transported in parts."

He said the aid was mainly delivered to Syria's northern Aleppo airport.

The official indicated that the shipments were organized by the Unit 18000 Syrian division of the Quds Force, the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, led by Hassan Mehdoui.

The Quds Force's Transport Unit 190, led by Bahanem Shahariri, handled ground transportation.

Syrian military defector Colonel Abduljabbar Akaidi, who retains army contacts, indicated that Israel's strikes also targeted a meeting of commanders of Iranian militias and shipments of electronic chips to upgrade weapons systems.

A regional source stated that Israel bombed Aleppo's runway just hours after two Iranian cargo planes had landed with arms shipments under the pretext of aid relief, which was confirmed by two other Western intelligence sources.

Head of al-Quds Force Brigadier General Esmail Qaani was the first foreign official to set foot in Syria's quake zone a few days before Assad himself arrived.

In a humanitarian catastrophe, UN relief planes can seek landing rights from local authorities, and humanitarian goods are exempt from sanctions.

Syrian authorities have granted landing rights to direct flights from Russia and Iran.

A regional source close to Iran's clerical leadership said the quake was a sad disaster, but at the same time, "it was God's help to us to help our brothers in Syria fight against their enemies. Loads of weapons were sent to Syria immediately."

Israel has for years carried out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

A Syrian army officer who asked not to be named said the Israelis were stepping up efforts to defeat Iran in Syria.

"Why now? Simply because they have information that something is being developed quickly. They must stop it and hit it to slow it. The quake created the right conditions. The chaos that ensued allowed Iranian jets to land with ease," he said.

A regional security source and two Western intelligence sources said that a radar station used for drones was also hit on Apr. 3.

"We believe that Iranian militias have transferred huge quantities of ammunition – they have restocked quantities lost in previous Israeli drone strikes," a Western intelligence source said, referring to Iranian flights since the Feb. 6 earthquakes.

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US Waving a ‘Carrot and Stick’ Policy at Iran

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a conversation Wednesday with Michael Froman (AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a conversation Wednesday with Michael Froman (AFP)
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US Waving a ‘Carrot and Stick’ Policy at Iran

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a conversation Wednesday with Michael Froman (AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a conversation Wednesday with Michael Froman (AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave Iran a choice between focusing on itself and on trying to build a better country for its people, or bear the consequences of continuing its engagement in what he called “misadventures” throughout the region and beyond.
During a conversation Wednesday with Michael Froman, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, the outgoing Secretary of State reflected on the carrot-and-stick policy that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump could adopt towards Iran.
He said there is a prospect of negotiations with Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal. However, he urged the policy of continued pressure on Iranian authorities to stop their nuclear policies in the Middle East.
Asked about the possibility of Iran accelerating its nuclear program in light of its failures in various parts of the Middle East, notably after Tehran lost its primary proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon and after the fall of the regime of its ally Assad, Blinken said “There’s no doubt this has not been a good year for Iran.”
He noted that Iran has to make some fundamental choices.
One choice, Blinken said, “is to focus on itself and focus on trying to build a better, more successful country that delivers for its people, which is clearly what most Iranians want, and to stop getting involved in these adventures – or misadventures – throughout the region and beyond.”
The outgoing Secretary of State also affirmed that Iran desperately needs to be focused on its economy, on growing the country, and delivering for people.
If they don’t make that choice, he said, “they have some hard decisions to make, yes, about where they’re going to go in the future to be able to sustain the kind of troublemaking that, unfortunately, they’ve been engaged in for many, many years.”
Blinken said he doesn’t think that a nuclear weapon is inevitable.
“I think this is something that may be more a question now because as they’ve lost different tools, as they’ve lost different lines of defense, sure, you’re going to see more thinking about that.”
He warned the costs and consequences to Iran for pursuing that route would be severe. “So I am hopeful that that remains in check,” he said.
Blinken then reiterated the position of President Joe Biden’s administration, saying that the so-called JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, was capable to take off the prospect of Iran getting to a nuclear weapon anytime soon by bottling up, tying up the fissile material, making sure their breakout time in producing enough fissile material for a bomb was pushed back beyond a year.
He said now that breakout time in terms of the production of fissile material is a matter of a week or two.
“They don’t have a weapon, and the weaponization piece would take them some time,” he added.
The Secretary of State then called on the next administration to find a way to engage this, because the production of 60 percent enriched uranium gives them the capacity, at least in terms of fissile material, to produce multiple weapons’ worth of material in very short order.
Asked about the prospect of a negotiation of a new nuclear deal with Iran, Blinken said there is the prospect of negotiations.
“Of course, it depends on what Iran chooses to do and whether it chooses to engage in meaningfully,” he said. “And of course, the incoming administration will have to make a decision.”
He recalled how President Trump last time around pulled out of the deal, and wanted, as he called it, a better, stronger deal. “Fine. Let’s see what’s possible,” Blinken said.
He then revealed that from administration to administration, whether it’s the Biden, the Trump or the Obama administration, there’s been a shared determination and a shared determination that remains to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.
Huge Opportunity
Blinken’s comments came shortly after White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Iran is at its “weakest point in decades,” after the fracturing of the Axis of Resistance.
The advisor also spoke about the huge opportunity” to advance regional integration.
At an event in New York, he said recent events in the Middle East — including the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the toppling of Bashar Assad in Syria — present a “huge opportunity” to advance regional integration.
When asked about efforts to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Sullivan affirmed that Saudi leaders have already said in recent months that a deal cannot move forward without a commitment by Israel to the creation of a Palestinian state.