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.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS