SYRIA
The Assad Axis
Assad’s Fighters Abandon Posts Following American Strikes
Shortly after the American strikes in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, a confrontation erupted among Iranian militia factions, leading to injuries within the ranks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. North Press reported that the discord involved machine gun exchanges among Iraqi, Lebanese, and Syrian factions. They fled their headquarters for fear of American bombing targeting Iranian militias in the region, resulting in casualties, including Haider Yaqut and Suhaib Al-Ahmad from Palmyra. Additionally, Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade members abandoned their posts in Mahkan and Al-Mariyah, seeking refuge in civilian areas to avoid the airstrikes. Over thirty local Revolutionary Guard members deserted their positions on the Al-Mayadeen Desert periphery as aircraft loomed, following a US attack that inflicted casualties on Iranian militia and Syrian regime forces across Syria and Iraq, with North Press citing significant losses without detailed figures.
Hours after suffering significant losses from American airstrikes, Iraqi armed groups, identifying themselves as the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” retaliated by launching a drone attack on an American base in Syria. They specifically targeted the Kharab al-Jir base situated in the Rmelan area, north of Hasakah. On the same day, reports surfaced from Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath indicating that American anti-aircraft defenses had intercepted drones aimed at the Conico base in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. Additionally, these groups claimed to have struck the Harir base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, although this assertion was later refuted by an official source in Erbil.
Media sources aligned with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that Hamza Alawi, a prominent member of the Fatemiyoun militia, was killed in Syria last Friday evening. Hamza Alawi is from the Afghan province of Parwan. Zuhair Mujahid, the cultural official of the Fatemiyoun militia, previously revealed that the conflict in Syria has had a heavy toll on their group, with 2,000 members killed and an additional 8,000 wounded.
Israeli fighter jets reportedly launched an assault on multiple positions in southern Syria from the Golan Heights, killing an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military advisor, identified as Saed Alidadi, in a targeted attack by the Israeli Army in southern Damascus, on Friday.
Following American airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, American forces in Syria experienced three separate attacks, none of which resulted in casualties. An American official disclosed to Al Jazeera that the Al-Furat support site was attacked twice, on Saturday and Monday, while the Al-Omar field base was targeted by a march on Monday. Concurrently, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported a suicide drone attack, originating from Assad-controlled territories, killing six of its members. An investigation attributed the strike to Iranian-backed militias utilizing areas under Syrian regime control for the launch. SDF leader Mazloum Abdi highlighted the inadequacy of the U.S. response to deter further attacks from Iranian militias.
The Assad Ministry of Defense accused the United States of an alliance with ISIS in eastern Syria after the U.S. targeted an area where the army was allegedly engaged in combat against ISIS remnants. Iran’s media, particularly Islam Times of Tehran, reported on Assad’s avoidance of direct military aid to Hamas, highlighting his status among non-state actors and the need for independent foreign policy actions. Assad praised the remarkable resilience of Hamas against Israel but linked conflicts in Syria, Palestine, Ukraine, the South China Sea, Venezuela, and others, arguing that Western conflicts, especially those involving the U.S., focus on narrative and information control. The report also noted that while Hamas members, as part of an unarmed group, could be relatively easily rebuilt if weakened, reconstructing Assad’s stature would be time-consuming and challenging. It emphasized the importance of preventing the resurgence of internal protests. Finally, it explained that Assad’s military capabilities, alleged to be superior to those of Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iraqi factions, suggest that involving Assad’s army in the conflict could prolong the suffering of the Palestinian people.
On Saturday, Russia requested an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting concerning the American strikes on Iraq and Syria. Zakharova stated that Russia condemns “this blatant new act of American and British aggression against two sovereign states.” She also noted that the American airstrikes “once again showed the world the aggressive nature of American policy in the Middle East and Washington’s complete disregard for international law.” According to the TASS report, a Security Council meeting is scheduled to discuss the American strikes on Iraq and Syria on February 5th.
