(Zaman Al Wasl)- Iranian power generating ships expected to provide the coastal cities and towns with electrical power returned the way they came after Russia blocked an agreement to lease the coastal area of Wadi Qandil, north of Lattakia, for 99 years to Iran's Ministry of Defense.
Zaman al-Wasl obtained information about the agreement between al-Assad and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that was discussed earlier this year to lease the Qandil Valley for a century.
On the social media page Corruption in Lattakia, Ali Melhem posted earlier this year that “Iran did not accept to supply Syria with electricity from the generators of the ships located along the Syrian coast only after it took Wadi Qandil to make it an Iranian trading port...”
Media activist Mohammed El-Saheli followed this news and began searching for the facts regarding such a deal. An official source in the regime government, who refused to disclose his name, explained that an order was sent from the Prime Minister to Lattakia province to identify an area along the northern coast of Lattakia city close to Wadi Qandil that can be rented to Iran in return for providing the coastal cities with electricity.
“A committee of several engineers was formed to study the matter and to identify a three-kilometer area that is at the depth of three kilometers on the shore near Bashar al-Assad and his brothers’ (Qasr al-Basil) private port. Several days after the committee began its work, orders came to stop working and dissolve the committee with the explanation that it contradicts the military operations ongoing in Lattakia countryside,” said the source.
“The committee went to the designated area, with a translator, a day before the order to stop arrived. They were surprised by the presence of was several patrol vehicles carrying Russian officers and agents. They were stopped by the Russian patrols who asked about their destination and then prevented them from advancing. The patrols informed them that this area is under Russian control, it is a military area that cannot be entered or photographed. The committee returned and informed the provincial executive office of what unfolded,” explained the source.
Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, al-Saheli said that an order from the Russian military leadership in Khmeimim airbase reached the provincial office forbidding any contracts with Iranian companies to supply the province with electricity or to provide services in return for any proposal that includes Iranian presence in the area be it military or social or religious presence.
An employee in Latakia port confirmed to al-Saheli that several Iranian ships arrived to the regional waters opposite the coast of the city. The port management and the Lattakia Electricity Directorate was installing the necessary extensions to connect the electricity from the ships with the transfer station in Sinjwan.
Iranian insistence on only providing electricity after signing the agreement and handing over the designated area, prompted varying responses among regime supporters. Some considered that “the issue concerns the interests and Iran has the right to cements military presence on the Syrian coast as a reward for what it has offered to crush the Syrian revolution,” and that “without Iran, they would now be sold in slave markets,” as one regime supporter posted on his personal page.
Other regime supporters considered that “Iran wants to occupy Syria, and it is engaged in a political and interest based war with Russia. This war is greater than the war it is waging in favor of the al-Assad regime.”
Many others voiced their opinions, all under pseudonyms, to the effect that “the issue relates to Syrian sovereignty and Syrian land which is being sold in return for maintaining Bashar al-Assad's position. The solution to the electricity issue and all that has resulted from the war is al-Assad’s departure and that Syrians sit together to reach a solution that satisfies everyone.”
Zaman al-Wasl obtained information about the agreement between al-Assad and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that was discussed earlier this year to lease the Qandil Valley for a century.
On the social media page Corruption in Lattakia, Ali Melhem posted earlier this year that “Iran did not accept to supply Syria with electricity from the generators of the ships located along the Syrian coast only after it took Wadi Qandil to make it an Iranian trading port...”
Media activist Mohammed El-Saheli followed this news and began searching for the facts regarding such a deal. An official source in the regime government, who refused to disclose his name, explained that an order was sent from the Prime Minister to Lattakia province to identify an area along the northern coast of Lattakia city close to Wadi Qandil that can be rented to Iran in return for providing the coastal cities with electricity.
“A committee of several engineers was formed to study the matter and to identify a three-kilometer area that is at the depth of three kilometers on the shore near Bashar al-Assad and his brothers’ (Qasr al-Basil) private port. Several days after the committee began its work, orders came to stop working and dissolve the committee with the explanation that it contradicts the military operations ongoing in Lattakia countryside,” said the source.
“The committee went to the designated area, with a translator, a day before the order to stop arrived. They were surprised by the presence of was several patrol vehicles carrying Russian officers and agents. They were stopped by the Russian patrols who asked about their destination and then prevented them from advancing. The patrols informed them that this area is under Russian control, it is a military area that cannot be entered or photographed. The committee returned and informed the provincial executive office of what unfolded,” explained the source.
Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, al-Saheli said that an order from the Russian military leadership in Khmeimim airbase reached the provincial office forbidding any contracts with Iranian companies to supply the province with electricity or to provide services in return for any proposal that includes Iranian presence in the area be it military or social or religious presence.
An employee in Latakia port confirmed to al-Saheli that several Iranian ships arrived to the regional waters opposite the coast of the city. The port management and the Lattakia Electricity Directorate was installing the necessary extensions to connect the electricity from the ships with the transfer station in Sinjwan.
Iranian insistence on only providing electricity after signing the agreement and handing over the designated area, prompted varying responses among regime supporters. Some considered that “the issue concerns the interests and Iran has the right to cements military presence on the Syrian coast as a reward for what it has offered to crush the Syrian revolution,” and that “without Iran, they would now be sold in slave markets,” as one regime supporter posted on his personal page.
Other regime supporters considered that “Iran wants to occupy Syria, and it is engaged in a political and interest based war with Russia. This war is greater than the war it is waging in favor of the al-Assad regime.”
Many others voiced their opinions, all under pseudonyms, to the effect that “the issue relates to Syrian sovereignty and Syrian land which is being sold in return for maintaining Bashar al-Assad's position. The solution to the electricity issue and all that has resulted from the war is al-Assad’s departure and that Syrians sit together to reach a solution that satisfies everyone.”
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