Iran has used earthquake relief flights to take weapons and military equipment into its strategic ally Syria, nine Syrian, Iranian, Israeli and Western sources said.
The sources said that the goal was to buttress Iran’s defenses against Israel in Syria and to strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
After the Feb. 6 earthquake in northern Syria and Turkey, hundreds of flights from Iran began landing in Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia airports bringing supplies, in an effort that went on for seven weeks, the sources said.
Photo: AFP
More than 6,000 people died in Syria, the UN said.
The supplies included advanced communications equipment and radar batteries and spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria’s Iran-provided air defense system in its civil war, two regional sources and a Western intelligence source said.
Reuters spoke to Western intelligence officials, sources close to the Iranian and Israeli leaderships, as well as a Syrian military defector and a serving Syrian officer about the flights.
When asked if Iran had used humanitarian relief planes after the earthquakes to move military equipment to Syria to enhance its network there and help al-Assad, Iran’s mission to the UN in New York said: “That’s not true.”
Syria’s government did not respond to a request for comment.
Regional sources said that Israel quickly became aware of the flow of weapons into Syria and mounted an aggressive campaign to counter it.
Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, an insider and former head of research in the Israel army as well as former general director of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, said that Israeli airstrikes against the shipments relied on intelligence so specific that the military knew which truck in a long convoy to target.
“Under the guise of shipments of earthquake aid to Syria, Israel has seen significant movements of military equipment from Iran, mainly transported in parts,” said an Israeli defense official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The aid was mainly delivered to Syria’s northern Aleppo International Airport, he said.
Shipments were organized by the Unit 18000 Syrian division of the Quds Force, the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, led by Hassan Mehdoui, he said.
Ground transportation was handled by the Quds Force’s Transport Unit 190 led by Bahanem Shahariri, he said.
Reuters was unable to reach Mehdoui and Shahariri for comment. The Revolutionary Guard declined to comment.
“Israel’s strikes also targeted a meeting of commanders of Iranian militias and shipments of electronic chips to upgrade weapons systems,” said Syrian military defector Colonel Abduljabbar Akaidi, who retains army contacts.
Akaidi did not say where the meeting was held.
Aleppo’s runway was hit by Israel just hours after two Iranian cargo planes had landed with arms shipments under the pretext of aid relief, a regional source said, information that was confirmed by two other Western intelligence sources.
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, was the first foreign official to set foot in Syria’s quake zone, a few days before al-Assad himself arrived.
Reuters could not reach Qaani for comment. The Revolutionary Guard declined to comment.
In the event of a humanitarian catastrophe, UN relief planes are allowed to seek landing rights from local authorities and humanitarian goods are exempt from sanctions.
In this case, Syrian authorities granted landing rights to direct flights coming from Russia and Iran.
“The quake was a sad disaster, but at the same time it was God’s help to us to help our brothers in Syria in their fight against their enemies. Loads of weapons were sent to Syria immediately,” a regional source close to Iran’s clerical leadership said.
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