New Delhi: A new leak has revealed that Iran concealed weapons within earthquake aid to Syria to target US troops, according to a report citing leaked classified US intelligence.
According to a Washington Post report, the leaked US intel contains findings that raise dire questions about the ability of the US and its allies to intercept Iranian-sourced arms used routinely to target American personnel, partner forces and civilians in the Middle East.
According to the leaked intel assessment, the military equipment hidden in shipments included small arms, ammunition and drones.
It detailed that the delivery of the smuggled weapons were made using vehicle convoys from Iraq coordinated through “friendly militant groups” there and the Quds Force – the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s (IRGC) overseas arm which provides material support to Iran-allied Shia militias in the region.
Citing a US defence official, the report said that this type of Iranian activity was consistent with past efforts by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to “use humanitarian aid going into Iraq and Syria as a way to get materials to IRGC-affiliated groups.”
According to the report, Iran and its affiliates mobilised quickly in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.
“On 7 February … a militia group based in Iraq allegedly orchestrated the transfer of rifles, ammunition and 30 [drones] hidden in aid convoys to support future attacks on US forces in Syria,” according to the leaked intelligence documents cited by the Washington Post report.
It added that a Quds Force officer directed an Iraqi militia group to “embed weapons within legitimate earthquake aid,” while another Quds Force officer maintained a list of “hundreds” of vehicles and goods that entered Syria from Iraq after the earthquake, an apparent effort to manage where all of the trafficked weapons were headed.
Findings ‘fake’, says Iraq
Meanwhile, a senior official in Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office told The Post that findings from the documents were “fake.”
“In reality the borders are wide open; in fact we are still suffering from illegals sneaking through the Syrian border,” The Post quoted the official as saying. “Which means if these documents are right, it’s possible any time. Why wait for an aid convoy as a justification?” the official added.
According to US officials, Iran-aligned groups pose a persistent threat to the roughly 900 US troops working with local forces in Syria to counter a resurgence of the extremist group ISIS.
In March, a US contractor was killed, and another was wounded in an attack at a base in Syria that was carried out by an Iranian-made drone, as confirmed by the Pentagon. The explosion also resulted in head injuries for several US service members.
However, US officials have stated that the drone was not brought into the country through one of the earthquake aid convoys, without providing additional details. Following the contractor’s death, the US launched airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias that were believed to be responsible for the attack, drawing a strong warning from President Biden to Tehran that the US would respond forcefully to violent assaults on American personnel.
With inputs from agencies
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