Iran has been discovered using commercial air lines to transport weapons to Assad’s army in Syria. According to Fox News, Iran has created a secret air bridge from Tehran to Damascus, using Iran’s two largest commercial airliners, Iran Air and Mahan Air, to transport weapons, ammunition, and soldiers. The shipments are intended to re-supply the forces of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad as they continue their onslaught against the Syrian people.
By using commercial aircraft, Iran hoped to bypass international sanctions and airspace restrictions. Seven flights a week from Iran to Damascus bring much needed supplies for Assad’s forces, which are running out of the materiel they need to continue their war against the Syrian people. The massive cargo of weapons and ammunition are carried in the cargo hold while the soldiers travel with the unsuspecting, fare-paying passengers.
The shipments are extremely large, taking several hours to off-load. Passengers on-board have reported being forced to remain on the planes after arriving at Damascus Airport, while the weapons are unloaded.
In the last week, over 200 Syrians have been killed in the incessant shelling and gunfire from Assad’s forces against the largely defenseless civilian population. The fierceness of the fighting has resulted in Assad’s forces running out of the guns and ammunition that they need to continue their rampant murder of civilians. Iran is filling that need.
Analysis In our view, the only reason Assad is still standing and continuing his assault on his own people is because of the massive military aid and support he is getting from Iran. As mentioned in earlier articles, Iran desperately needs Syria as an ally and client state in order to maintain its land-bridge to Hezbollah in Lebanon and its Mediterranean access at the Syrian port of Latakiya, where at least two of its military ships are already berthed.
Iran’s fight is almost as desperate as Syria’s, and the current intensity of the fighting in Syria, while the world sits by, raises concern among those who are following events closely. Russian, Turkish, Iranian, and US military ships are still gathering in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as in the Red Sea, and the growing unrest in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, and Syria make the region a flash point that could ignite in response to even a relatively small spark. Israel is surrounded by enemy states which are unstable and under siege. The tiny nation is on highest alert as Iran moves inexorably towards the creation of its own nuclear arsenal, and the Arab Spring evolves into chaos.
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