Report: Iran transferred weapons to Syria under cover of sorties to help with the earthquake

Iran has transported weapons and military equipment to Syria on flights to deliver humanitarian aid after the devastating earthquake in February, it was reported Wednesday.

Nine Syrian, Iranian, Israeli and Western sources told the Reuters news agency that the weapon was intended to “support Iran’s defenses against Israel in Syria,” as well as to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key ally of Tehran.

The report said the equipment included advanced communications equipment, radar batteries, as well as spare parts needed to upgrade the Syrian air defense system, which was provided by Tehran.

Reuters said that its sources for the report included Western intelligence officials, sources close to the Iranian and Israeli leaderships, a defector from the Syrian army, and a Syrian officer in service.

The sources told Reuters that Israeli defense officials learned shortly after the earthquake that Tehran was exploiting the situation to transfer weapons.

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“Under the guise of earthquake aid shipments to Syria, Israel has seen large movements of military equipment from Iran, mainly transferred in parts,” an anonymous Israeli defense official told Reuters.

The official explained that most of the military equipment was sent to Aleppo Airport, adding that it was organized by the Syrian Unit 18000 of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, led by Hassan Mahdavi.

Screenshot from Twitter showing a fire at Aleppo Airport after an alleged Israeli airstrike, March 7, 2023. (Screenshot/Twitter; used pursuant to Section 27a of the Copyright Law)

The official said the ground transportation of the weapons was then carried out by the 190th Transportation Unit of the Quds Force, led by Bahnem Shahiri.

Soon, cargo planes began arriving in Aleppo from Iran, where they were being supervised by Ismail Qani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Expeditionary Corps.

Within days of the earthquake, the Saudi-owned Elaph news website quoted an Israeli military official as saying that if Iran was shipping weapons to its regional proxies under the guise of humanitarian aid to Syria after the major earthquake there, the Israeli military would not hesitate to strike.

Last month, Aleppo International Airport was closed for nearly three days after its runway was damaged in an airstrike attributed to Israel.

Sources confirmed to Reuters that the runway was hit shortly after two cargo planes arrived from Iran carrying weapons shipments.

At the time, the Syrian Foreign Ministry denounced a “double crime”, saying the strike had targeted a “civilian airport… and one of the main channels for humanitarian access” for victims of the deadly earthquake.

It is believed that more than 6,000 people were killed in the earthquake in Syria, and more than 50,000 were killed in Turkey.

Civil defense workers and residents search through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Harem in Idlib province, Syria, February 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

“The Israeli strikes also targeted a meeting of Iranian militia leaders and shipments of electronic chips to update weapons systems,” Colonel Abdul-Jabbar al-Akidi, a defector from the Syrian army, told Reuters, without giving further details about the meeting.

A Syrian army officer, who did not give his name, said that Israel is increasing its strikes in Syria “because they have information that something is being developed rapidly.”

They should stop him and beat him to slow him down. The earthquake created the right conditions. The ensuing chaos, the Syrian source said, allowed the Iranian planes to land easily.

Other sources confirmed to Reuters that since the beginning of the month, Israel has targeted weapons depots in the Jabal Mani’ Kiswa mountain range, south of Damascus.

The report said the site was likely the most heavily fortified military outpost in Syria built by Iranian forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

The report said a radar station used for drones was also hit in the strike.

“We believe Iranian militias moved huge amounts of ammunition – restocking quantities lost in previous Israeli drone strikes,” a Western intelligence source said, referring to Iranian flights in the aftermath of the quake.

Mourners attend the funeral of two Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen killed in strikes in Syria that were attributed to Israel, on April 4, 2023 (ATTA KENARE/AFP)

A regional source close to Iran’s religious leadership told the outlet that while the earthquake was a disaster, it provided a God-sent opportunity to move weapons.

The earthquake was an unfortunate disaster, but at the same time, with God’s help, we were able to help our brothers in Syria in their fight against their enemies. “Quantities of weapons were sent to Syria immediately,” the source said.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied to Reuters that it had used humanitarian flights to transport weapons to Syria. Damascus did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Several airstrikes against purported Iranian arms shipments disguised as seemingly harmless products have been attributed to Israel in the recent past.

Israel is believed to have carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-held parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.

However, Israel has acknowledged that it is targeting the bases of groups allied with Iran, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel views Iran’s expansion across Syria as an ongoing threat to its national security, and has launched strikes across a wide range of targets in an effort to rein in Iranian forces in the region.

Syrian air defense missiles in the sky over Damascus, April 4, 2023 (STRINGER / AFP)

Israel regards Iran as its greatest enemy, citing its hostile rhetoric, support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, and its suspected nuclear programme. Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb.

Israel has allegedly carried out a number of strikes in Syria this month, including the killing of two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The army said six rockets were fired from southern Syria at the Golan Heights on Saturday night and early Sunday in two separate salvos two hours apart, with three rockets landing in Israeli territory.

The attack came as tensions escalated across the region with a barrage of rockets from Lebanon. exchanged rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Israeli strikes; Clashes in Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Deadly terrorist attacks in Israel and the West Bank. as well as a suspected Iranian drone launched from Syria earlier in the week.

Israel appears to have stepped up its activities in Syria recently, and earlier this month Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah that Israel would not tolerate any efforts to harm the country or its citizens after a man was seriously injured in a Megiddo bomb attack that he blamed on the Iranian-backed organization.

Emmanuel Fabian contributed to this report.

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