IRGC, Hezbollah Armed Fighters In Syria’s Deir Ezzor With Anti-Aircraf…
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah have armed dozens of their fighters in the northeastern Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor with man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADs), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on August 15.
Citing local sources, the London-based monitoring group said that around 120 MANPADs were handed over to fighters who recently received training on these systems.
The fighters in question are currently deployed in several positions along the western bank of the Euphrates River, just a few kilometers away from the positions of the United States-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces on the other bank, according to the group.
The step came amid rising tensions in northeastern Syria. The U.S.-led coalition and its proxies have been amassing their forces on the eastern Euhprates bank in Deir Ezzor for the last two months.
Several media reports talked about a plot by the coalition to launch an attack against Iranian-backed forces in the governorate.
Last week, a shadowy Syrian armed group that calls itself the Popular Resistance of the Eastern Region announced it had attacked two bases of the U.S.-led coalition in Deir Ezzor and a third in the neighboring governorate of al-Hasakah. The coalition has not yet confirmed or denied these claims.
Both the IRGC and Hezbollah are present in Deir Ezzor to support government forces against ISIS’s remaining cells in nearby desert areas, secure the Syrian-Iraqi border line and to counter the influence of the U.S.-led coalition.
If confirmed, the deployment of MANPAD might be an attempt to deter the coalition who increased the flights of attack helicopters and drones over the Euphrates River in recent weeks.
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