SOHR: following the attack on Erbil, Iran-backed militias shift positions in Syria

Shafaq News/ Iran-backed paramilitary groups underwent "redeployment and repositioning" operations in Syria in the aftermath of the missile attack on the capital of the Kurdistan region, Erbil, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Tuesday.

"In the western Euphrates region, Iranian-backed militias in Al-Bokamal and its desert, Al-Mayadeen and its countryside have changed their positions and outposts and stationed in new posts, transported weapons and ammunition to other locations in Al-Shibli area, Al-Mazarea in the outskirts and desert of Al-Mayadeen and in Al-Raqqah," SOHR said.

"The war monitor's sources have also reported that Iranian-backed militias have transported their forces and weapons from two areas of Maadan desert," it added.

"According to Observatory sources, Iranian-backed militias conducted unusual movements in Palmyra and its desert and other areas in the eastern countryside of Homs, as these militias have repositioned in new sites there and evacuated warehouses and points."

"Similar operations on the outskirts of the capital Damascus and near the border with Lebanon in the Damascus countryside have occurred."

"The mass reshaping of Iranian positioning in Syria came after two members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and two other Syrian fighters operating under the banner of Iran-backed militias were killed in an Israeli attack on March 7."

In the early hours of Sunday, a dozen of ballistic missiles landed in the capital of the Kurdistan region that appeared to target the United States Consulate.

Later that day, Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for the missile assault.

Iranian state media said the Revolutionary Guards Corps had launched the attack against Israeli "strategic centres" in Erbil, suggesting it was revenge for recent Israeli air strikes that killed Iranian military personnel in Syria.