(Zaman Al Wasl) There is talk among Syrians about an Iranian air base being established in Syria to ensure Tehran’s strategic interests in Syria in the future but the reports conflict regarding the name of the base.
Zaman al-Wasl obtained information about the Iranian military presence in the Syrian air bases from a source within the regime forces. The source denied that Iran has its own airbase but confirmed the Iranian military presence in several Syrian air bases.
Damascus
The source revealed that Damascus International Airport is the permanent headquarters for an Iranian military unit stationed there. The unit’s primary mission is to protect the buildings and cargo bunks under Iranian control inside the airport since 2013. The airport also hosts two to four Iranian C-130s planes which are permanently present to transport troops, ammunition and military equipment from Damascus International Airport to other airports and bases in Syria. Damascus International Airport is the landing for most Iranian military cargo planes entering Syria.
The source said ththat the Beli airbase was the first military airbase the Iranians were stationed in Syria since the start of the military campaign against the Syrian people. One or two squadrons of Iranian unmanned airplanes have been there since the beginning of 2012.
The source explained that the Iranians at Beli airbase have buildings of their own and they control the north-east part of the airport. The source pointed out that Iranian aircraft detachments are sent to all Syria’s airports and bases from this airbase.
The source indicated that Mezze military airbase is the third airbase the Iranians have been present in since mid-2012 with the aim of manufacturing explosive barrels or executing attacks. An unmanned squadron of Iranian aircrafts are located in the north-east part of the base.
According to the source, an Israeli strike targeted this part of the base in 2016 destroying many aircrafts and killing around 25 officers and technicians from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He pointed out that no information was leaked to the media about the results of the attack except that Israeli aircrafts attacked al-Mezze airbase.
At al-Sin airbase, Iranian presence began in April 2017 when the headquarters were taken as the headquarters for the launch of Iranian militia forces towards al-Tanf and south of al-Sin airport towards Palmyra. The base is the dispersal center for the unmanned crafts where two of the crafts brought down a coalition airplane during July 2017. Iranian presence in al-Sin airport continues until this time.
Homs and Hama
In the central region, Zaman al-Wasl’s source spoke about al-Dabaa military airbase, controlled by the Hezbollah militia in June 2013 after the battles for al-Qusayr. The source confirmed that al-Dabaa airbase is being used as a training center for Shiite Afghan forces as well as Iranian militias using it as their headquarters. Part of the airport is still under the control of Iran and Hezbollah.
In the T-4 airbase, the Iranians have a command headquarters as well as semi-permanent accommodation for Shiite militiamen who were brought in to defend the airport in 2016.
The source said that all the tents built in this airbase are from the tents provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to accommodate displaced civilians and refugees from the war in Syria.
The source confirmed that in the period following the withdrawal of the Islamic State forces from the airport area, the airport witnessed a decrease in Iranian presence. Their presence has been reduced to a small number of groups and a permanent detachment of Iranian aircrafts which are based at the headquarters in T4.
At the al-Shayrat airbase, the Iranian presence is limited to a detachment of aircrafts that have been almost permanently present there since 2013.
The source said that Iranian presence at Hama military airbase began since mid-2012 in the form of technicians overseeing the manufacture of explosive barrels. Iranian presence in the airbase increased for it to host Iranian infantry militia forces in 2015. The airbase became the launch point for the sectarian militias heading towards Hama’s northern countryside. The airbase has been used for Iranian cargo planes to land since 2016.
He added that a detachment of the Iranian unmanned airplanes is permanently located at the airport to survey Hama’s northern countryside and Idlib’s southern countryside and its villages with the aim of collecting information about these areas.
Aleppo
Al-Nayrab Airport (Aleppo International Airport) is one of the most prominent places for Iranian militias since 2013 until now. According to the same source, the militias that participated in the battles of Aleppo and its countryside occupy more than half of the military and civilian airports’ structures.
The source added that the airport includes the militia headquarters and is the permanent residence of several Iranian-commanded sectarian groups operating in Aleppo and its countryside. The base is a dispersal center for unmanned Iranian aircrafts as well as a landing site for Iranian cargo planes and a warehouse for the ammunition and military equipment.
In Aleppo countryside, Kuweires Airport is considered an Iranian infantry forces barracks and is home to many Iranian led sectarian militias. Their presence comes after they participated in the battles to break the siege on the airport in 2015. Until now, Iranian presence remains in the western part of the airport.
Iran runs Syria's chemical weapons plants
As regime renews chemical attacks on the besieged eastern district of Damascus, sources assured to Zaman al-Wasl that most of domestic chemical weapons and missiles used in the attack were manfactured by Iran.
Damascus has been repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons, with the United Nations among those blaming regime forces for an April 2017 sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhoun which left scores dead.
Although the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said Russia bore responsibility for recent chemical attacks on Eastern Ghouta, sources said Iran had been involved in the attack.
More than 20 civilians, most of them children, were victims of a chlorine gas attack on Eastern Ghouta suburbs no Monday.
Tillerson's comments came as diplomats from 29 countries met in Paris to push for sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria.
Sources reveal that Iranian experts have manufactured new missiles with large destruction power and a cheap cost.
Their method based on the acquisition of missile engines imported from China, Russia, North Korea and Ukraine or those manufactured domestically at the army-run Scientific Research Center and in the Sfira factory in northern Aleppo province .
Missiles Components
- The 107-mm Katyusha rocket engine (Russian-Korean-China).
-The engine of the rocket BM-14 caliber 140 mm Russian-made.
- Grad rocket engine 122 mm (Russian - Korean - China).
-Rocket engine 220 mm homemade.
- Rocket engine 302 mm homemade.
Manufacturing Steps
1 - Obtain the part that contains the rocket engine only from the missile types mentioned above (by separating the head mass from the engine).
2- Manufacture of an explosive warhead with a much larger mass than that carried by the basic missile (this container can carry explosives or a container to carry other chemicals).
3- As a natural result of increasing the weight of the explosive head mass several times, the distance of the new missile will be much shorter than the distance of the original missile from which the rocket engine was taken.
4 - Manufacturing suitable shock absorber.
5 - Manufacturing tail suitable for maintaining the balance and rotation during the rocket path in the air.
Centers Under Iran's Control
- Defense Laboratories in Sfira which were completely destroyed in 2016 due to explosions of unknown cause, which led to the destruction completely, Which led to the transfer of the place of manufacturing into the activities of the plant.
- The Damascus-based 794 factory in the Center for Scientific Studies and Research. The factory was formerly owned by the Defense Industries Corporation. It was then transferred to the Center for Scientific Studies and Research. The most important centers for the manufacture of heavy weapons in Syria, and most of its employees are Syrians with a few counting of Iranian experts.
The Institute "2000 Mechanic" in Barza, the northern suburb of Damascus.
Iran's warpower has reached 82,000 fighters, including 60,000 Syrians, 9,000 members of Hezbollah, 3,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guard members and "10,000 members of violent Shia militias recruited from across the Middle East, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There have been at least 130 separate chemical weapons attacks in Syria since 2012, according to French estimates, with Daesh (ISIS) also accused of using mustard gas in Syria and Iraq.
Zaman Al Wasl
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