‘18 dead in strike on Iranian militia base in Syria,’
IDF says IRGC fighters launched rockets at Israel, but they fell short
Rockets were fired at Israel from the outskirts of Damascus by a Shi'ite militia operating under the command of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, the IDF said on Monday. The attack came just hours after loud explosions were heard in and around the Syrian town of Al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border. Reports quickly emerged that “Iranian” or “Iranian-backed militias” had been targeted in the attacks near Iraq.
Satellite images from ImageSat International (ISI) revealed the extent of the damage to a suspected Iranian military compound.
The airstrikes near Al-Bukamal hit an area near where a June 2018 airstrike targeted a Kata'ib Hezbollah base. Kata'ib Hezbollah is an Iraqi-based Shi'ite militia with close ties to the IRGC. Monday's incidents occurred amid increased tensions between Iran and the US, and between Israel and Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah. They also come after five mysterious airstrikes in Iraq that targeted Iranian-backed groups between July 19 and August 25.
On September 4, Fox News reported that satellite images, also from ISI, revealed a new Iranian base allegedly being constructed in Al-Bukamal. The base was a “classified Iranian project, called the Imam Ali compound.” The airstrike was reported by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A SOHR source told Al-Hurra that the Iranian positions were likely struck. SOHR says it documented at least 18 Iranians and their allies killed in the airstrikes, which caused ammunition depots to explode. “Unidentified planes have so far targeted concentrations of Iranian forces and their militias in and around Al-Bukamal.”
The ISI assessment is that if the site is indeed an Iranian base, “it is probabe that the strike is part of the struggle with Tehran to prevent it from establishing the land corridor to its allies in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.” The target likely held ammunition and other infrastructure, the assessment released on Monday notes. Satellite images from ISI show that the border crossing itself as well as a new border terminal were not affected. Instead eight warehouses were destroyed; several other warehouses were left intact.
Al-Arabiya and others asserted that the airstrikes hit a militia called Al-Abdal, Haidarion and Kata'ib Hezbollah. Al-Arabiya also claimed that Iran is deploying members of Lebanese Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba from Iraq and its Fatimion and Zeinabion militias from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the area alongside the IRGC.
Hours later, the IDF says that a number of rockets were launched from Syrian territory toward Israel but failed to hit Israeli territory. “The IDF holds the Syrian regime responsible for all events taking place in Syria.” The IDF also specified that the rockets were fired by Shi'ite “militia operatives operating under the Iranian [IRGC] Quds Force.” The rocket fire comes two weeks after an IAF strike hit a team of IRGC members with “killer drones” south of Damascus.
SHI'ITE MILITIAS have played a key role in supporting the Assad regime over the last eight years of Syria's civil war.
Since 2016, there have been increasing concerns that these groups are entrenching in Syria alongside Iranian IRGC positions and Hezbollah, creating a network of bases that stretch from Lebanon to Iran via Syria and Iraq. This is what is called Iran's “land bridge” and many of the groups have openly threatened Israel. This includes Kata'ib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, whose leader even went to southern Lebanon.
Shi'ite militias linked to the IRGC have a presence in Syria, and their attempt to fire rockets at Israel is a major escalation.
Israel has also accused Iran of transferring precision missile technology to Iraq and then, via Syria, to Hezbollah. Last week, the IDF released details of an Iranian-supported Hezbollah factory in the Bekaa Valley that upgrades basic rockets to precision-guided missiles. In addition, reports since August 2018 have indicated that Iran transferred missiles to Iraq.
Some on social media questioned whether the explosions in Al-Bukamal were airstrikes, pointing out a lack of air defense against them. Forces in the city were on high alert throughout the morning. Syrian state media and other major media linked to pro-Iranian networks did not report the alleged airstrikes. Could the attack have been carried out by ISIS?
Going off of social media reports, with very little evidence from the ground, many assume the attacks struck the Iranian or Hashd al-Shaabi, Iraqi militia, targets. That is what Al-Masdar and other sites said. There is only one video online that appears to show the explosions following the strikes. Social media accounts, which are impossible to verify in terms of their access to knowledge, have claimed the Imam Ali complex of Iran was targeted.
The satellite images confirm that airstrikes took place but do not show what was struck or if there were casualties.
The airstrikes came just a day after reports indicated the Al-Bukamal Iraq-Syria border crossing was supposed to open. Since earlier this year, work has gone into creating a new border crossing at the site. Al-Bukamal was occupied by ISIS from 2014 to 2017, and has only recently been fully cleared of ISIS threats, while the Syrian regime and Iraqi army seek to rehabilitate the area. It is a strategic crossroads between Iraq and Syria, and is near US forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces that control the area north of the Euphrates River, north of Al-Bukamal.
According to the Deir Ezzor 24 media network, the Assad regime's Syrian Arab Army had sent elements of the 4th division to the area on August 28 “to replace Iranian Revolutionary Guards Forces.” The existence of the Iranian investment in Al-Bukamal is now well known, and it was reasonable that many sites would claim that this was the target of the explosions.
Sputnik news in Arabic reported that US pressure in Iraq had stopped the crossing from opening on time this week. “A source in the Popular Mobilization Forces told Sputnik that the crossing is expected to be open within nine days.” It was the PMF that was allegedly targeted on September 9.
In other news, a member of the Nujaba militia was killed in Al-Bukamal on September 6.