IRGC resumes operations in Syria’s Palmyra airport
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, the Air Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has started reusing the Palmyra military airport, in central Syria, which it had handed over to Russia’s Wagner group in early March 2021, a Syrian government source said.
In October, Israeli airstrikes repeatedly knocked Aleppo and Damascus airports out of service, preventing the Iranian forces’ aircraft from landing and, thus, supplying Iran-backed militias in Syria.
Between 2013 and 2018, Syrian and IRGC forces utilized Palmyra airport as a military supply base, facilitating logistical support to the bases of the IRGC in the town of Abu Kamal, located east of the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, as well as the surrounding areas of the city.
A Syrian government official stated to North Press that the Russian Wagner forces, who control the airport, permitted the IRGC’s Air Force to use the facility as a host. The Wagner forces have been using the airport as a base since 2018 as part of their role in safeguarding Russian investment companies operating in the Jazal and Shaer gas fields, as well as extracting phosphate ores from nearby mines. This arrangement is part of an agreement with the Syrian government.
The source said that the IRGC has received supplies from the Palmyra military airport in recent days via the Ithriyah-Raqqa road. These supplies were then transported by the IRGC to newly-established warehouses situated east of the city of Aleppo.