Iran has established a new military base in Syria and has plans to house thousands of troops at the location, multiple Western intelligence sources told Fox News.
The classified Iranian project, called the Imam Ali compound, was approved by top leadership in Tehran and is being completed by the Iranian al-Quds Forces, said Tuesday’s report.
Using a civilian satellite company, Fox News verified the information and obtained images that show a base being constructed on the Syria-Iraq border.
Analysts at Image Sat International (ISI) who reviewed the images say that precision-guided missiles could be housed at five different newly constructed buildings that are surrounded by large dirt mounds. The images also show, in the northwest part of the base, ten additional storehouses with less external protection, as well as new buildings and missile storage structures.
ISI analysts say that construction could be completed over the next few months and the base would be operational shortly after.
According to security experts, this is the first time that the Iranian military is building a base of this scale from scratch in Syria. There is an American army position less than 200 miles from the new Iranian compound.
In recent months, Israel has targeted Iranian military facilities in Syria and destroyed structures that were used to house weapons and troops.
Iran and Iranian-backed militias are using the chaos caused by the Syrian civil war to strengthen their presence in the region.
