Burned by Israel Strikes, Iran to Move Weapons Supply Center Out of Damascus
Burned by Israel Strikes, Iran to Move Weapons Supply Center Out of Damascus
Iran would like to move its weapons supply center for Syria from the Damascus international airport to a Syrian air base located very far from the capital city. Specifically, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which runs this operation, apparently will relocate the center to the Syrian air base known as T4, located between Homs and Palmyra.
The decision is related to the latest wave of Israeli attacks on the Damascene airport. That wave caused tensions between Iran on the one side and the Assad regime and Moscow on the other because it undermined the attempt by Syria and Russia to create the impression that the regime had restored stability to the country after scoring a series of victories in the civil war.
Iran has progressively stepped up the presence it established years ago at the Damascus airport, with the consent of the Assad regime, during nearly-eight years of the civil war. During the war years, the international airport turned into a hub where arms hailing from Iran have been received, sorted, stored and supplied.
The Quds Brigade of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, commanded by General Qasem Soleimani, has its own independent compound within the airport, just tens of meters from the international terminal through which passengers and tourists enter and leave Syria. Israel claims that the Iranian operations at the airport, which Russia is ignoring, endangers passengers and imperils the regime’s safety as well.
The Damascus facility is Syria’s main civilian airport. Traffic through it diminished during the war, in part because the regime severed diplomatic ties with several countries. Next to the civilian terminal is the seven-story Glasshouse, which was originally built as a hotel. In recent years, the Glasshouse has served as the headquarters from which Iran runs its Syrian operations. Access to the Glasshouse is restricted. Arms storage depots, including two underground bunkers (which were originally intended to protect jet planes from aerial attack), lie nearby.
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Read More: Harteez
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