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)
TT

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.



Bomb Hoax Threats to Indian Airlines Spark Chaos

People sleep inside a mosquito net on the banks of river Yamuna in New Delhi on October 17, 2024. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP)
People sleep inside a mosquito net on the banks of river Yamuna in New Delhi on October 17, 2024. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP)
TT

Bomb Hoax Threats to Indian Airlines Spark Chaos

People sleep inside a mosquito net on the banks of river Yamuna in New Delhi on October 17, 2024. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP)
People sleep inside a mosquito net on the banks of river Yamuna in New Delhi on October 17, 2024. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP)

More than 70 fake bomb threats have been made against flights operated by multiple Indian airlines this week, Indian media reported Sunday, sparking fear among passengers and global delays.

All flights landed safely, but the spate of threats has resulted in planes being diverted to Canada and Germany, and fighter jets scrambled to escort aircraft in the skies above Britain and Singapore, AFP reported.

India's government and civil aviation authorities have warned that "very strict action" will be taken.

New Delhi's civil aviation authorities have not said how many threats have been received in the past week, but the Times of India and broadcaster News18 reported more than 70 hoaxes targeting both domestic and international flights since October 13.

At least 30 hoax threats were made on Saturday alone.

The global impact of delays and diversions has been heavy on airline schedules and costs.

At least one person -- a minor -- has been arrested in India, but the threats have continued.

"All others responsible for the disruptions will be identified and duly prosecuted," India's aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said after the arrest on Wednesday.

A report in The Indian Express said that an anonymous account on X, formerly Twitter, was suspended after posting bomb threats to at least 40 flights on Friday and Saturday.

This included both Indian and international airlines, including from the United States and New Zealand.

"There are bombs placed onboard... No one will make out alive. Hurry up and evacuate the plane," read the identical messages from the suspended account, the newspaper reported.

Among recent flights impacted was an Air India flight from Mumbai to New York, with US security officials sweeping the plane after its safe landing on Saturday.

Other flights impacted include an Air India plane from New Delhi to Chicago, which was forced to make an emergency landing in the far northern Canadian city of Iqaluit on Tuesday.

Canada's airforce had to fly the passengers on.

On the same day, Singapore scrambled fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane.

On Thursday, British RAF fighter jets escorted an Air India Boeing 777-300 after a threat was made against the plane, which landed safely in London.

On Friday, a Vistara flight from New Delhi to London had to divert to Frankfurt in Germany.