Iran Continues to Bring in Military Reinforcements to Syria

File photo: Iranian militias’ training in Syria, including fighters for the Lebanese Hezbollah. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
File photo: Iranian militias’ training in Syria, including fighters for the Lebanese Hezbollah. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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Iran Continues to Bring in Military Reinforcements to Syria

File photo: Iranian militias’ training in Syria, including fighters for the Lebanese Hezbollah. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
File photo: Iranian militias’ training in Syria, including fighters for the Lebanese Hezbollah. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Iran continues to bring military reinforcements to Syria from Iraq, according to local sources, in parallel with a state of alert of the IRGC-affiliated militias in eastern Syria.

The past days witnessed the entrance of dozens of members from the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces.

Opposition local media revealed that IRGC military reinforcements of more than 50 Iraqi and Lebanese members crossed the Syrian-Iraqi border to Al Bukamal.

Well-informed sources told the Bladi News website that the members entered on Saturday and settled in a military headquarters of the IRGC near the Al Fayhaa Hospital in Al Bukamal and were then moved to Al-Quriyah and Al-Taybeh in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

Sources from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that the Iranian militias leadership will send trained Afghan and Pakistani fighters to the region to train residents from east of the Euphrates.

The river line separating Iranian militias-held areas from SDF-held areas has witnessed suspicious movements recently, added the sources.

Moreover, local sources said that the Iranian militias have offered the tribal notables their assistance by recruiting their sons in exchange for many temptations while providing them with security cards and weapons.

In the past days, a leader from the Iranian militias and a number of the regime officers held several meetings with notables in the Al Bukamal.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced its need to recruit nearly 1,000 individuals aged between 14 to 30 to the ranks of the formation, where it started admitting volunteers to their ranks in Deir Ezzor city and the villages of Hatlah, Marat, Al-Husseiniyah for monthly salaries of 1.5 million Syrian pounds.

The task of recruiting young men has been entrusted to several local commanders affiliated with Iranian militias, added the Observatory.

The volunteers later will be moved to Damascus and then to Lebanon by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia to send them to Palestine and join the fight against Israel.

SOHR sources have reported that the Iranian-backed militias transferred more than 300 fighters from the Special Task Force and other forces from Deir Ezzor, Homs, and Aleppo to Al-Qunaitrah, Rif Dimashq, and the border with the occupied Golan.

Among those transferred were dozens of fighters who were urgently trained in Deir Ezzor, specifically within the Ayash camp by IRGC.

The SOHR revealed that the Lebanese Hezbollah and the “Syrian Resistance for the Liberation of the Golan,” have ordered their fighters to stay on high alert within their positions in the western countryside of Damascus, at the borders with Lebanon and in the occupied Golan.

They brought in military and logistical reinforcement to fortify these positions, moved weapons to safer places, and put on high alert to deal with any possible Israeli attacks.



Netanyahu and Trump to Talk Tariffs, Iran and Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to Washington direct from a visit to Hungary. Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to Washington direct from a visit to Hungary. Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP
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Netanyahu and Trump to Talk Tariffs, Iran and Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to Washington direct from a visit to Hungary. Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to Washington direct from a visit to Hungary. Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP

Talks on Monday between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump are expected to be dominated by Washington's shock tariffs on Israel and escalating tensions with Iran.

Netanyahu becomes the first foreign leader to meet with Trump in the US capital since the president unveiled sweeping levies on multiple countries in his "Liberation Day" announcement on Wednesday.

Arriving in Washington direct from a visit to Hungary, Netanyahu's chief objective will be to persuade Trump to reverse the decision, or at the very least to reduce the 17 percent levy set to be imposed on Israeli imports before it takes effect.

Before leaving Budapest, Netanyahu said his discussions would include a range of issues, including "the tariff regime that has also been imposed on Israel".

"I'm the first international leader, the first foreign leader who will meet with President Trump on a matter so crucial to Israel's economy," he said in a statement.

"I believe this reflects the special personal relationship and the unique bond between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time."

Analysts said Netanyahu will seek to secure an exemption from the tariffs for Israel.

"The urgency (of the visit) makes sense in terms of stopping it before it gets institutionalized," said Jonathan Rynhold, head of political studies at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv.

Such an exemption would not only benefit Trump's closest Middle East ally but also "please Republicans in Congress, whose voters care about Israel, but are unwilling to confront Trump on this at this point," he said.

Israel had attempted to avoid the new levy by moving preemptively a day before Trump's announcement and lifting all remaining duties on the one percent of American goods still affected by them.

But Trump still went ahead with his new policy, saying the United States had a significant trade deficit with Israel, a top beneficiary of US military aid.

Gaza truce, hostages

The Israeli leader's US trip is "also a way for Netanyahu to play the game and show Trump that Israel is going along with him," said Yannay Spitzer, a professor of economics at Hebrew University.

"I would not be surprised if there is an announcement of some concession for Israel... and this will be an example for other countries."

Netanyahu will also discuss the war in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli hostages still held in the Palestinian territory, and the growing "threat from Iran", his office said.

Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza on March 18, ending nearly two months of ceasefire with Hamas that had been brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Efforts to restore the truce have since failed, with more than 1,330 people killed in renewed Israeli air and ground operations, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Palestinian Hamas group there still hold 58 hostages, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

On Iran, Trump has been pressing for "direct talks" with Tehran on a new deal to curb its nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday rejected the idea of direct negotiations with the United States as "meaningless".

There has been widespread speculation that Israel, possibly with US help, might attack Iranian facilities if no agreement is reached.