Iran Sends Missiles to Iraqi Hezbollah in East Syria

Iranian military trucks carry surface-to-air missiles during a parade on the occasion of the country's Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
Iranian military trucks carry surface-to-air missiles during a parade on the occasion of the country's Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
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Iran Sends Missiles to Iraqi Hezbollah in East Syria

Iranian military trucks carry surface-to-air missiles during a parade on the occasion of the country's Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
Iranian military trucks carry surface-to-air missiles during a parade on the occasion of the country's Army Day, on April 18, 2017, in Tehran. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

Short and medium range surface-to-surface Iranian missiles were delivered Friday to the Iraqi Hezbollah near the regime-controlled town of Al-Tabani in the western countryside of Syria’s Deir Ezzor province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 56 missiles were delivered to the Hezbollah sites in civilian trucks via unofficial crossings between Syria and Iraq.

Earlier this month, SOHR activists had monitored the Afghan Fatimiyoun Brigade unloading a weapons shipment from four large trucks used for transporting vegetables and fruits.

The trucks were loaded with Iranian-made missiles, coming from Iraq. The shipments were stored in commercial warehouses rented from civilians in the area of Kua Ibn Aswad, located between Al-Mayadeen city and Mahakan town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

Iranian militias and their supporters are based in positions in Deir Ezzor’s countryside, but they make redeployments from time to time over fear of Israeli airstrikes and unidentified US-led coalition aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Cultural Center won Friday a bid to invest in Al-Nour private hospital in Deir Ezzor city, which belongs to a doctor who has sought asylum in a European country.

The Syrian regime had confiscated the hospital and the doctor’s properties. The center won the bid to operate the hospital in return for 15 million Syrian pounds a year. It has started rehabilitating for reopening.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Hezbollah started recruiting new volunteers at its base in the rural development department building of Deir Ezzor’s Harabish neighborhood. The Party announced that it would give the new recruits monthly salaries of $150 each, exploiting the economic hardship and dire living conditions.

A large number of volunteers applied to join Hezbollah's ranks, seeing the offer as a good deal compared to the wages of regime soldiers and other loyalists, the Observatory said.



Protest Against Gaza War Prevents Israeli Visitors from Touring Greek Island

Two empty chairs stand on a beach as people cool off during a heat wave, near Athens, Greece, 22 July 2025. (EPA)
Two empty chairs stand on a beach as people cool off during a heat wave, near Athens, Greece, 22 July 2025. (EPA)
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Protest Against Gaza War Prevents Israeli Visitors from Touring Greek Island

Two empty chairs stand on a beach as people cool off during a heat wave, near Athens, Greece, 22 July 2025. (EPA)
Two empty chairs stand on a beach as people cool off during a heat wave, near Athens, Greece, 22 July 2025. (EPA)

A cruise ship carrying Israeli tourists left the Greek island of Syros Tuesday without its passengers disembarking, after more than 150 protesters demonstrated at the island’s port, unfurling Palestinian flags and calling for an end to the war in Gaza.

Carrying banners that read: “Stop the Genocide” and “No a/c in hell” — a reference to the conditions Palestinians face in the Gaza Strip — the protesters chanted slogans on the dock near where the cruise ship, the Crown Iris, was docked on Tuesday, local media said. There were no reports of any violence.

The ship is operated by an Israeli company, Mano Cruise, which said about 1,700 passengers were on board and it is sailing to Cyprus.

Greece’s coast guard said the ship set sail at around 3 p.m., earlier than originally scheduled, but did not immediately have any further details.

“The management of Mano Cruise has decided in light of the situation in the city of Syros to now sail to another tourist destination,” the company said in a press release. “All passengers and crew members are resting and spending time on the ship on their way to the new destination.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar contacted his Greek counterpart, George Gerapetritis, over the incident, the Greek foreign ministry confirmed. It did not release any details of their discussion.