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Top Iranian commander visits Syrian position on Israeli border
Iran has claimed that one of its top commanders recently toured the Syria-Israel border, underscoring Tehran’s deep involvement in the Syrian civil war.
Iran’s Fars news agency reports that General Mohammad Reza Naghdi visited the area of Quneitra, which is directly adjacent to the border on the Golan Heights. Naghdi is the commander of the Basiji Resistance Force, a paramilitary auxiliary organisation under the control of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Fars did not say exactly when Naghdi visited Quneitra, nor the purpose of his visit, but it is a rare instance in which Iran has officially acknowledged the presence of a senior official near the border.
Iran is the main regional ally in support of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Tehran is thought to supply his forces with weapons and other resources. In addition, Iran’s proxy, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, continues to fight by al-Assad’s side in Syria and has suffered significant losses.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly warned Iran against establishing a presence on Israel’s northern border via Hezbollah. On several occasions, Israel has taken military action to prevent Hezbollah-led attacks from the Golan Heights targeting Israel and attempts to transfer advanced weaponry to its forces in Lebanon. In January 2015, an Israeli strike on the Syrian Golan Heights killed senior Hezbollah commander Jihad Mughniyeh. Iran admitted that General Mohammad Allahdadi, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander was also killed in the strike. He was thought to have been overseeing the construction of Hezbollah bases in Syria.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports that Israel has permitted the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syrian territory near the border. Food, medical and educational supplies are being brought to a comparatively “safe zone”, where they are collected by locals on the other side of the border, in coordination with the IDF. The initiative is being operated in conjunction with an NGO called Amaliah, which is headed by an American-Israeli philanthropist.