Large airstrikes in Syria overnight Tuesday shook the ground in the Iraqi-border city of Albukamal and the city of Deir al-Zor 120 km. to the northwest. Both cities are on the Euphrates River and are part of the network of Iranian bases and influence in Syria.These airstrikes were different than most others reported in the past year: They eviscerated a warehouse, a military headquarters and other sites. Two dozen people were reported killed, including Syrian soldiers and members of Iranian-backed groups.
What do we know? A warehouse near Deir al-Zor in a place called Ayyash was photographed after its apparent destruction. A military security headquarters housed in what looked like a 1970s-era dilapidated building in Deir al-Zor was ripped apart. Several white caravans were damaged near Albukamal. Aurora Intel and other online sleuths have geo-located many of the sites. The caravans were part of an “informal” crossing into Iraq, one likely used by Iran.
Iran began building what is called the Imam Ali base near Albukamal in 2018. It became festooned with tunnels, buildings and warehouses between 2019 and 2020. This area has been struck numerous times, with Syria blaming Israel for some airstrikes.The Jewish state has carried out more than 1,000 airstrikes on Iranian positions in Syria over the last five years. Those are the publicly known strikes; it is not known who carried out the strike on the night of January 12. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights pointed at Israel as having carried out the 18 strikes that occurred around 1 a.m. on January 13.
There has been increased activity at the Imam Ali base, which is more like a sprawling desert area. It links to a road that runs through waypoints called T-1, T-2 and T-3, and then T-4, an air base near Palmyra.
That base houses Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units and has been used to fly drones toward Israeli airspace. One drone penetrated into Israeli airspace and was shot down in February 2018. The Syrian regime reconquered areas near the Golan that summer, and Iran, along with its Hezbollah ally, has festooned areas near Quneitra and Deraa with safe houses and units.
What was hit on the night of January 12? Pro-Iranian IRGC groups called Fatemiyoun, often recruited from Pakistan and Afghan Shi’ites, were allegedly struck. They run a network of posts from Albukamal to al-Mayadin and Deir al-Zor. Although they are poor fighters who receive small wages from Iran, they have vowed in the past to strike at Israel, as part of Iran’s network of militias, which is sometimes called the Iranian “road to the sea.”
The airstrikes caught the Syrian regime soldiers by surprise last night, and they mobilized after the attacks. They have also been suffering from attacks by ISIS in the desert.
Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria. The size of the airstrikes would appear to indicate that Iran is still there.
It’s unclear what the point was of hitting the warehouses, where Fatemiyoun allegedly distributes small arms. It is also unclear whether those on the ground were fully informed about what was in the warehouses and sites struck with missiles.
Airstrikes, allegedly carried out by Israel, targeted dozens of sites in the Deir al-Zor region of eastern Syria and in Albukamal near the Syria-Iraq border on Tuesday night.The strikes were aimed at dozens of warehouses and sites belonging to pro-Iranian militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) throughout the area, according to local news source Deir EzZor 24.
Two residents in the regional capital, Deir al-Zor City, said they could hear the distant sound of huge explosions, apparently from arms depots destroyed in the raids.The IDF did not immediately comment. Community Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who spoke to KAN Bet, declined to discuss the specific reports but said that Israel hits Iranian targets in Syria “whenever our intelligence dictates it and according to our operational capability.”While Syrian state media and Iranian media have refrained from reporting on casualties, large numbers of ambulances were reported in the area soon after the strike. Independent reports on the number of casualties ranged between 25 and 50.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen news reported that one person was killed and 14 others were wounded in the strikes, adding that the strikes were carried out by Israeli aircraft using intelligence from the US military.The Iranian Al-Alam TV reported that an Iranian advisor was injured in the strike, but quickly deleted the report, according to KAN news. As of Wednesday evening, Al-Alam's report stated that the person killed in the strike was a soldier in the Syrian military and that no Iranians were injured in the strikes.
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