Hezbollah sends new reinforcements to Palmyra desert: source

The Lebanese Hezbollah militia on Sunday sent new military reinforcements in the desert city of Palmyra in the eastern countryside of Homs.

Zaman al-Wasl reporter, quoting private sources, said that the reinforcements came from the city of Deir Ezzor, including a convoy of 50 militants with their full equipment, in addition to 7 military vehicles and 5 pickup trucks loaded with weapons and ammunition.

Hezbollah sought to strengthen the militia's presence in the region and to conduct military exercises in coordination with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) in Palmyra.

The reinforcements, the second in one day, were brought in the morning from the city of al-Qusayr in the southern countryside of Homs, which included military vehicles, weapons and ammunition, and more than 70 members who settled at the military points surrounding the Palmyra Military Airport.

The reinforcements came amid a hike in the Islamic State’s attacks on regime forces and Iran-backed militias.

Last week, three Iranians of the Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in an ambush by the Islamic State militants in the Badia desert.

The attack targeted a military point for the IRGC in the Khirbat Tiyas badia, about 5 km from the Tyfour military airbase.

Despite the fall of IS's "caliphate" in 2019, the group continues to launch deadly attacks from hideouts in the Syrian desert, which extends from the outskirts of the capital Damascus to the Iraqi border.

So far this year 61 pro-regime soldiers and Iran-affiliated militiamen had been killed in IS attacks in the desert of Syria in the last few weeks.