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Iranian Drones: New Terrorism

Missiles and drone aircraft are seen on display at an exhibition at an unidentified location in Yemen in this undated handout photo released by the Houthi Media Office. (Reuters)
Missiles and drone aircraft are seen on display at an exhibition at an unidentified location in Yemen in this undated handout photo released by the Houthi Media Office. (Reuters)
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Iranian Drones: New Terrorism

Missiles and drone aircraft are seen on display at an exhibition at an unidentified location in Yemen in this undated handout photo released by the Houthi Media Office. (Reuters)
Missiles and drone aircraft are seen on display at an exhibition at an unidentified location in Yemen in this undated handout photo released by the Houthi Media Office. (Reuters)

During the inauguration of the fourth year of the Saudi Shura Council, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, confirmed that, thanks to the military forces, the ballistic and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia did not impact development and the lives of the people. Rockets are well established and understood weapons, but it is the use of drones, a more novel tool, which is frightening. Drones, because they are relatively easy to build at a limited cost, are creating a kind of strategic imbalance in battlefields around the world. So how are we to characterize this distressing development?

The threat of drones
Several studies trace the origin of drones back to the First World War, when the English tried to fly them in an effort to reduce casualties. The Americans developed the aircraft further during the Second World War, using them to watch over enemy naval vessels. Drone technology was developed further still during the Vietnam War in order to launch surprise attacks with minimal casualties. It was natural for Israel to obtain such aircraft at the time it was waging wars with the Arab world and when it needed to monitor the occupied territories.

Since the 1970s and until this day, drones have become a global concern, especially after terrorist groups managed to obtain these aircraft that bring death from the air. In August, the European Union expressed its concern about the illegitimate use of drones, given how evolved and easy to build the technology has become and after it had landed in terrorist hands. The EU hopes to establish a global network for sharing information about this threat.

Iranian drones: The path of terror
Since the Iranian Revolution erupted four decades ago, the regime in Iran has been trying to destabilize the region, becoming the primary sponsor of terror in the globe. Iran, with help from North Korea, started working with drones soon after the new regime was established in the 1980s, and after decades of development, drones are now readily available for them and their militias, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.

Iran’s Terrorism from Syria to Libya to Yemen
Iran has carried out a number of raids on Saudi oil infrastructure, including important pipelines and vital facilities deep into the Empty Quarter, and most notably on the Aramco facilities. Iran has not hesitated in developing and distributing them to terrorists in Yemen. Its malicious reach has gone beyond Yemen and into Syria, opening a route to deliver drones from Iran, making Syria paramount to the movement of drones.

A deep conflict is ongoing between Iran and Russia over land. Libya has also served as a background for a malignant cooperation among the evil triad (Iran, Turkey and Qatar). Unchecked, the Libyan arena has been turned into an experimental field for the deadliest and newest weapons, including drones, many of which were built by Turkey or Iran and funded by Qatar.

Turkish-Iranian collaboration?
The Stockholm Center for Peace Studies mentions such collaboration and confirms that Turkey’s interest in military drones started in 1996 at the latest, when it bought drones from the American company General Atomics and, shortly after, from Israel. More recently Turkey has been collaborating with the Iranians on a Qatari funded project, in an effort to transform itself into a regional power. The drones sent by Turkey were neutralized in Libya by the Libyan National Army, but at least two terrorist organizations, Hezbollah and Hamas, have benefited from the project. Hezbollah benefited from direct Iranian aid, while Hamas took advantage of information leaked from Iran and Turkey.

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What to Know about Sudden Gains of the Opposition in Syria's 13-year War and Why it Matters

Fighters seize a Syrian Army tank near the international M5 highway in the area Zarbah which was taken over by anti-government factions on November 29, 2024, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied groups continue their offensive in Syria's northern Aleppo province against government forces. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP)
Fighters seize a Syrian Army tank near the international M5 highway in the area Zarbah which was taken over by anti-government factions on November 29, 2024, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied groups continue their offensive in Syria's northern Aleppo province against government forces. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP)
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What to Know about Sudden Gains of the Opposition in Syria's 13-year War and Why it Matters

Fighters seize a Syrian Army tank near the international M5 highway in the area Zarbah which was taken over by anti-government factions on November 29, 2024, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied groups continue their offensive in Syria's northern Aleppo province against government forces. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP)
Fighters seize a Syrian Army tank near the international M5 highway in the area Zarbah which was taken over by anti-government factions on November 29, 2024, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied groups continue their offensive in Syria's northern Aleppo province against government forces. (Photo by Rami al SAYED / AFP)

The 13-year civil war in Syria has roared back into prominence with a surprise opposition offensive on Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities and an ancient business hub. The push is among the opposition’s strongest in years in a war whose destabilizing effects have rippled far beyond the country's borders.
It was the first opposition attack on Aleppo since 2016, when a brutal air campaign by Russian warplanes helped Syrian President Bashar Assad retake the northwestern city. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other groups has allowed Assad to remain in power, within the 70% of Syria under his control.
The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East, at a time when US-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied groups.
Robert Ford, the last-serving US ambassador to Syria, pointed to months of Israeli strikes on Syrian and Hezbollah targets in the area, and to Israel’s ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon this week, as factors providing Syria’s opposition groups with the opportunity to advance.
Here's a look at some of the key aspects of the new fighting:
Why does the fighting at Aleppo matter? Assad has been at war with opposition forces seeking his overthrow for 13 years, a conflict that's killed an estimated half-million people. Some 6.8 million Syrians have fled the country, a refugee flow that helped change the political map in Europe by fueling anti-immigrant far-right movements.
The roughly 30% of the country not under Assad is controlled by a range of opposition forces and foreign troops. The US has about 900 troops in northeast Syria, far from Aleppo, to guard against a resurgence by the ISIS extremist group. Both the US and Israel conduct occasional strikes in Syria against government forces and Iran-allied militias. Türkiye has forces in Syria as well, and has influence with the broad alliance of opposition forces storming Aleppo.
Coming after years with few sizeable changes in territory between Syria's warring parties, the fighting “has the potential to be really quite, quite consequential and potentially game-changing,” if Syrian government forces prove unable to hold their ground, said Charles Lister, a longtime Syria analyst with the US-based Middle East Institute. Risks include if ISIS fighters see it as an opening, Lister said.
Ford said the fighting in Aleppo would become more broadly destabilizing if it drew Russia and Türkiye— each with its own interests to protect in Syria — into direct heavy fighting against each other. -
What do we know about the group leading the offensive on Aleppo? The US and UN have long designated the opposition force leading the attack at Aleppo — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known by its initials HTS — as a terrorist organization.
Its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, emerged as the leader of al-Qaeda's Syria branch in 2011, in the first months of Syria's war. His fight was an unwelcome intervention to many in Syria's opposition, who hoped to keep the fight against Assad's brutal rule untainted by violent extremism.
Golani early on claimed responsibility for deadly bombings, pledged to attack Western forces and sent religious police to enforce modest dress by women.
Golani has sought to remake himself in recent years. He renounced his al-Qaeda ties in 2016. He's disbanded his religious police force, cracked down on extremist groups in his territory, and portrayed himself as a protector of other religions. That includes last year allowing the first Christian Mass in the city of Idlib in years.
What's the history of Aleppo in the war? At the crossroads of trade routes and empires for thousands of years, Aleppo is one of the centers of commerce and culture in the Middle East.
Aleppo was home to 2.3 million people before the war. Opposition forces seized the east side of the city in 2012, and it became the proudest symbol of the advance of armed opposition factions.
In 2016, government forces backed by Russian airstrikes laid siege to the city. Russian shells, missiles and crude barrel bombs — fuel canisters or other containers loaded with explosives and metal — methodically leveled neighborhoods. Starving and under siege, the opposition surrendered Aleppo that year.
The Russian military's entry was the turning point in the war, allowing Assad to stay on in the territory he held.
This year, Israeli airstrikes in Aleppo have hit Hezbollah weapons depots and Syrian forces, among other targets, according to an independent monitoring group. Israel rarely acknowledges strikes at Aleppo and other government-held areas of Syria.