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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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Syria’s Al-Qusayr Celebrates Eid al-Fitr without Hezbollah for First Time in Years

People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)
People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)
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Syria’s Al-Qusayr Celebrates Eid al-Fitr without Hezbollah for First Time in Years

People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)
People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)

Amid the devastation, thousands of residents of Syria’s Al-Qusayr performed Eid Al-Fitr prayers in the northern district square—the site where the city’s first protest against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule erupted in 2011.

For the first time in Al-Qusayr’s history, Eid prayers were held in a public square. It was also the first mass gathering of residents in an open space in 13 years, following a war that destroyed 70% of the city, displaced its people, and led to its capture by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Syrian regime forces.

Al-Qusayr, a region located near the Lebanese border, was once Hezbollah’s most significant stronghold in Syria. The group withdrew after the fall of the Syrian regime in December, but its loyalists and affiliated locals remained, along with residents of several border villages that have seen sporadic clashes in recent months.

The most intense fighting occurred in February, when Syrian forces launched a military operation that pushed them into Lebanese territory and deployed troops to seal off illegal border crossings.

Tensions flared again two weeks ago after Syrian soldiers were killed in the border region, triggering an exchange of artillery fire between the two sides.

The clashes left casualties on both ends and forced the displacement of border village residents before a ceasefire was reached with the Lebanese army.

The agreement included the closure of four illegal crossings in an effort to curb the smuggling of weapons and drugs, a trade that has flourished over the past decade under the former regime.

As soon as the regime fell, refugees from Al-Qusayr living in Lebanese camps began returning to their hometown. Hundreds arrived to find their homes completely destroyed, forcing them to set up tents beside the ruins while they rebuilt or searched for alternative housing.

The residents of Al-Qusayr resumed their communal Eid traditions after Ramadan. (Sami Volunteer Team)

The large turnout for Eid prayers underscored the scale of the return.

Journalist Ahmed al-Qasir, who recently came back, estimated that about 65% of those displaced have now returned. Before the uprising, Al-Qusayr had a population of around 150,000, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Shahin, 30, who returned in 2018, described the city as a wasteland at the time, despite some 20,000 people having already come back.

“Hezbollah, regime militias, and smugglers controlled the area. There were no real markets, just small shops. Everything was in ruins—schools, clinics, hospitals,” he said.

Residents had to travel 30 kilometers to Homs for basic necessities, enduring regime checkpoints that extorted money along the way.

With the fall of Assad’s regime and Hezbollah’s withdrawal, life in Al-Qusayr has slowly begun to return to normal. Since the start of Ramadan, markets have reopened despite widespread destruction, poverty, and hardship.

On the eve of Eid, the city’s streets buzzed with late-night shopping, Shahin noted.

“Al-Qusayr is finally regaining its role as the region’s commercial hub,” he said.

According to a survey by the Sami Volunteer Team, more than 30,000 refugees returned to Al-Qusayr and its countryside within the first month of the regime’s collapse.

That number is believed to have doubled over the past four months, and team organizers expect it to rise further once the school year ends.

Zaid Harba, a member of the 40-person volunteer group, said most returnees came from refugee camps in Lebanon, while fewer arrived from displacement camps in northern Syria.

Many families there are waiting for the academic year to conclude before arranging their return.