Leader of Iranian-backed Shia militia seen inside Syrian military ops room
Liwa Zulfiqar’s secretary general was seen in a Syrian military operations room for ongoing operations in Syria’s southern Deraa province.
Liwa Zulfiqar’s secretary general was seen in a Syrian military operations room for ongoing operations in Syria’s southern Deraa province.
An Iranian-controlled Iraqi Shia militia advertised its presence in the current Syrian regime offensive in the southern province of Deraa. The photos provide evidence for Iranian involvement in the offensive.
Earlier today, Israel struck the T-4 military air base in Syria’s Homs Governorate. At least four Iranians including a Colonel died in the attack.
Last week, the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington D.C. released a nine-page primer on Iran’s continued support to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Buried within the same document was photographic evidence of Saudi Arabia’s latest charge against Iran: the provision of the Sayyad-2C surface-to-air missile (SAM) to Houthi rebels.
Bahrain claims to have broken up a militant cell, which was reportedly linked to Iran. Also captured in the raids was large amounts of explosives, including material to produce IEDs.
The funerals further highlight Iran’s support of Bahraini Shia militias.
On select measures of the Iran threat, the 2018 document is remarkably consistent with themes from past assessments. Yet, in this latest assessment, additional attention is paid to the country’s evolving cyber aptitudes and to its turbulent domestic politics.
The report also notes that the US State Department has pressed the Iraqi government for the return of the tanks, but this has not happened.
In the early hours of Feb. 10, a day before the 39th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran, an Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) entered Israeli airspace from Syria.
The State Department’s announcement that it was going after as-Sabirin, an Iranian-backed splinter faction in Gaza, shows the administration is serious about cutting Iran’s ties to its regional proxies.
Ahead of Iraq’s May parliamentary elections, Iranian-backed militias this month announced a coalition called al-Fatah al Mubin (Manifest Victory). It is led by Hadi al Ameri, the chief of the Badr Organization and current parliamentarian with close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Qods Force chief Qassem Soleimani called him a “living martyr” last year.
Ansar al Furqan, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group, claims to have bombed an oil pipeline in the area of Ahvaz, Iran. However, the group’s claim could not be independently verified.
At the strategic level, if Iran’s provision of ballistic missiles to the Houthi rebels is confirmed, it could be seen as an indicator Tehran’s increased tolerance for risk in a distant conflict theater, one which has sought to weaken Saudi Arabia by any means possible.
The Iraqi Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba has posted photos of its Iranian commander, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force chief Qassem Soleimani, inspecting positions near Al Bukamal in Syria near the Iraqi border.
In recent years, Iran has stepped up its support for various Shia militant groups in the small Sunni-led kingdom. This support has been noted by both Bahraini and American officials.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Russia have spearheaded the operation to capture the Islamic State-held city of al Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor province, eastern Syria.
Before President Donald Trump levied a terrorism designation against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC and the Islamic Republic threatened the US over the move. One senior Iranian official initially called it a “declaration of war” and then he tampered it down.
An explosively formed penetrator (EFP) killed an American soldier in Iraq on Oct. 1. The US and Iraqi governments haven’t conclusively fingered a perpetrator, but EFPs have been used by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq in the past.
Islamic State forces still control a small pocket of villages to the north and east of the town, but are now surrounded.
Iran has divulged more details about a senior officer from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Qods Force who was killed in Syria last month. The 32-year old Col Morteza Hosseinpour-Shalmani (AKA Hossein Qomi) died afteran Islamic State ambush near Jamouna, which is about 37 miles northeast of the US base of Tanf by the Iraqi border in eastern Syria. The operations commander of the Iranian-led Iraqi contingent in Syria, he was leading a unit of Seyyed al Shuhada Brigades that included Iranian-embedded soldiers.
“Since at least 2009,” the State Department says in a recently released report, “Iran has allowed AQ [al Qaeda] facilitators to operate a core facilitation pipeline through the country, enabling AQ to move funds and fighters to South Asia and Syria.”
On the 23rd anniversary of the Jewish Community Center bombing in Buenos Aires, which remains the deadliest attack on Argentinian soil, Iran continues to protect the suspects from arrest by Interpol.
At a July 10 ceremony commemorating a Revolutionary Guard commander recently slain in Iraq, Major General Qassem Soleimani hailed victory in Mosul against the Islamic State. Addressing the crowd with the flags of the Islamic Republic, Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestine and Iraq draped behind him, the Qods Force chief praised Iraqi actors, as well as Iran’s material and combat support to Iraq during the war.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced that two men, Ali Kourani and Samer El Debek, had been arrested and charged with carrying out various missions on behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization. The IJO serves as Hizballah’s external operations wing, carrying out clandestine missions on behalf of Iran around the world. The complaints allege that Kourani and El Debek were both members of the IJO, which is ultimately controlled by Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who in turn reports “directly” to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
US Central Command said that the Iranian-made drone was shot down after it “displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces.”
Iranian press outlets report that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has fired missiles from Iranian territory at the Syrian governorate of Deir ez-Zor in response to the recent Islamic State terror attacks in Tehran.
The Islamic Republic has scrambled to explain Wednesday’s Islamic State-claimed, twin terrorist attacks in Tehran, leading to contradictory statements highlighting confusion amongst government agencies. Select Iranian officials however, like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, have attempted to downplay the severity of the attack in what appears to be an attempt to dissuade criticism.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for its first major attacks inside Iran earlier today. Although the group has long fought Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria, it had never struck Tehran. Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani previously admitted that his organization had abided by an order from al Qaeda’s senior leadership to refrain from attacking in Iran.
Major powers involved in the Syrian war are racing to maximize gains from the crumbling Islamic State in southern and eastern Syria. The continued advancement of pro-Syrian regime forces and Iranian-backed militias toward the US-held Tanf base – as well as the potential advance of both sides toward the Iraqi border area – raise the risk of further clashes that may draw in the US and Russia, though the latter has been unwilling to challenge US strikes against a pro-regime convoy and Syrian warplanes this year.
Iranians head to the polls today to choose between “bad and worse” in yet another unfair-and-unfree presidential election. The primary challenger, Ebrahim Raisi – who is considered a frontrunner to succeed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – has received the support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the protector of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution that has long cast a dark shadow over the country.