{"id":103554,"date":"2023-04-13T17:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=103554"},"modified":"2023-04-13T08:06:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T06:06:53","slug":"20-00-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=103554","title":{"rendered":"Iran Exploits Quake Relief Mission to Fly Weapons to Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Iran Exploits Quake Relief Mission to Fly Weapons to Syria<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Reuters and Algemeiner Staff<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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People ride a motorbike past buildings damaged by an earthquake that hit Syria on February 6, in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria March 29, 2023. Photo: REUTERS\/Mahmoud Hassano\/File Photo<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Iran has used earthquake relief flights to bring weapons and military equipment into its strategic ally Syria, nine Syrian, Iranian, Israeli and Western sources said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sources told\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0that the goal was to buttress Iran\u2019s defenses against Israel in Syria and to strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0is the first to report this development.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Feb. 6 earthquake in northern Syria and Turkey, hundreds of flights from Iran began landing in Syria\u2019s Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia airports bringing supplies, and this went on for seven weeks, the sources said. More than 6,000 people died in all of Syria, according to the United Nations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The supplies included advanced communications equipment and radar batteries and spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria\u2019s Iran-provided air defense system in its civil war, said the sources, two regional sources and a Western intelligence source said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Reuters<\/em>\u00a0spoke to Western intelligence officials, sources close to the Iranian and Israeli leadership as well as a Syrian military defector and a serving Syrian officer about the flights for this article.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 Assad, Iran\u2019s mission to the United Nations in New York said: \u201cThat\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Syria\u2019s government did not respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regional sources told\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0that Israel quickly became aware of the flow of weapons into Syria and mounted an aggressive campaign to counter it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, an insider and former head of research in the Israel army as well as ex-general director of the Ministry of Strategic Affair said Israeli air strikes against the shipments relied on intelligence so specific that Israel\u2019s military knew which truck in a long convoy to target.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018SIGNIFICANT MOVEMENTS\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

An Israeli defense official, who asked to remain anonymous, told\u00a0Reuters<\/em>: \u201cUnder the guise of shipments of earthquake aid to Syria, Israel has seen significant movements of military equipment from Iran, mainly transported in parts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the aid was mainly delivered to Syria\u2019s northern Aleppo airport. Shipments were organized, he said, by the Unit 18000 Syrian division of the Quds Force, the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, led by Hassan Mehdoui.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ground transportation was handled by the Quds Force\u2019s Transport Unit 190 led by Bahanem Shahariri, he said.\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0was unable to reach Mehdoui and Shahariri for comment. The Revolutionary Guards declined comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s strikes also targeted a meeting of commanders of Iranian militias and shipments of electronic chips to upgrade weapons systems,\u201d said Syrian military defector Colonel Abduljabbar Akaidi, who retains army contacts. Akaidi did not say where the meeting was held.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aleppo\u2019s runway was hit by Israel just hours after two Iranian cargo planes had landed with arms shipments under the pretext of aid relief, said a regional source, information that was confirmed by two other Western intelligence sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, head of the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 Quds Force, was the first foreign official to set foot in Syria\u2019s quake zone, a few days before Assad himself arrived.\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0could not reach Qaani for comment. The Revolutionary Guards declined comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 have granted landing rights to direct flights coming from Russia and Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe quake was a sad disaster but at the same time it was God\u2019s help to us to help our brothers in Syria in their fight against their enemies. Loads of weapons were sent to Syria immediately,\u201d said a regional source close to Iran\u2019s clerical leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

PINPOINT ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel has for years carried out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran\u2019s influence has grown since it began supporting Assad in the civil war that began in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Syrian army officer who asked not to be named said the Israelis were stepping up efforts to defeat Iran in Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy now? Simply because they have information that something is being developed quickly. They must stop it and hit it to slow it. The quake created the right conditions. The chaos that ensued allowed Iranian jets to land with ease,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of further earthquakes on April 3, Israeli targets have included weapons warehouses in the Jabal Manea Kiswa mountain range south of Damascus where Iranian troops and Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah have built what is probably their most fortified military site in Syria, a regional security source and two Western intelligence sources said.<\/span><\/p>\n

A radar station used for drones was also hit on April 3, the regional source added, corroborating what two Western intelligence sources had told\u00a0Reuters<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that Iranian militias have transferred huge quantities of ammunition \u2013 they have restocked quantities lost in previous Israeli drone strikes,\u201d a Western intelligence source said, referring to Iranian flights since the Feb. 6 earthquake.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iran Exploits Quake Relief Mission to Fly Weapons to Syria Reuters and Algemeiner Staff People ride a motorbike past buildings damaged by an earthquake that hit Syria on February 6, in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria March 29, 2023. Photo: REUTERS\/Mahmoud Hassano\/File Photo Iran has used earthquake relief flights to bring weapons and military […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103554"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103568,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103554\/revisions\/103568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}