Iranian Militias Switch Positions in Syria

View of a damaged building in the aftermath of missile attacks in Erbil, Iraq March 13, 2022. (Reuters)
View of a damaged building in the aftermath of missile attacks in Erbil, Iraq March 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Iranian Militias Switch Positions in Syria

View of a damaged building in the aftermath of missile attacks in Erbil, Iraq March 13, 2022. (Reuters)
View of a damaged building in the aftermath of missile attacks in Erbil, Iraq March 13, 2022. (Reuters)

After a dozen ballistic missiles struck Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil, Iranian militias across Syria undertook redeployment and repositioning operations.

The attack against Erbil had also targeted the US consulate’s new building on Saturday evening.

In the western Euphrates region, Iranian-backed militias in Al-Bokamal and its desert, Al-Mayadeen and its countryside have changed their positions and outposts and stationed in new posts, transported weapons and ammunition to other locations in Al-Shibli area, Al-Mazarea in the outskirts and desert of Al-Mayadeen and in Al-Raqqah, informed sources at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The war monitor’s sources have also reported that Iranian-backed militias have transported their forces and weapons from two areas of Maadan desert.

According to Observatory sources, Iranian-backed militias conducted unusual movements in Palmyra and its desert and other areas in the eastern countryside of Homs, as these militias have repositioned in new sites there and evacuated warehouses and points.

Similar operations on the outskirts of the capital Damascus and near the border with Lebanon in the Damascus countryside have occurred.

The mass reshaping of Iranian positioning in Syria came after two members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and two other Syrian fighters operating under the banner of Iran-backed militias were killed in an Israeli attack on March 7.

Israel had hit their military positions near Damascus International Airport.

Severe tensions have also taken over Syrian-Iraqi borders. Beyond military calculations and positions, the area is troubled by terrorists and smugglers.

On Friday night, clashes erupted between a group of smugglers and Iraqi border guards in the Al-Bokamal desert border with Iraq in Syria’s eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

According to the Observatory, the clashes started with the attempt of a group of smugglers to cross the Iraqi border. Eventually, the smugglers managed to flee towards Syrian territory amid clashes.



Relatives of Bashar Assad Arrested as They Tried to Fly Out of Lebanon, Officials Say

A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Relatives of Bashar Assad Arrested as They Tried to Fly Out of Lebanon, Officials Say

A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A torn poster of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad hangs near the flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, in Daraa, Syria, December 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The wife and daughter of one of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad ’s cousins were arrested Friday at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese judicial and security officials said. Assad’s uncle departed the day before.

Rasha Khazem, the wife of Duraid Assad — the son of former Syrian Vice President Rifaat Assad, the uncle of Bashar Assad — and their daughter, Shams, were smuggled illegally into Lebanon and were trying to fly to Egypt when they were arrested, according to five Lebanese officials familiar with the case.

They were being detained by Lebanese General Security. Rifaat had flown out the day before on his real passport and was not stopped, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Swiss federal prosecutors in March indicted Rifaat on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering murder and torture more than four decades ago.

Rifaat Assad, the brother of Bashar Assad's father Hafez Assad, Syria's former ruler, led the artillery unit that shelled the city of Hama and killed thousands, earning him the nickname the “Butcher of Hama.”

Earlier this year, Rifaat Assad was indicted in Switzerland for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Hama.

Tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon illegally on the night of Assad’s fall earlier this month, when insurgent forces entered Damascus.

The Lebanese security and judicial officials said that more than 20 members of the former Syrian Army’s notorious 4th Division, military intelligence officers and others affiliated with Assad’s security forces were arrested earlier in Lebanon. Some of them were arrested when they attempted to sell their weapons.

Lebanon’s public prosecution office also received an Interpol notice requesting the arrest of Jamil al-Hassan, the former director of Syrian intelligence under Assad. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati previously told Reuters that Lebanon would cooperate with the Interpol request to arrest al-Hassan.