BALADI NEWS
An Israeli newspaper reports that Iran has begun excavating tunnels at its Imam Ali base in Syria near the Iraqi border that will be used to store and move weapons, according to new satellite images and a report from Fox News.
The Jerusalem Post says that the base has been under construction for more than a year and is a key part of Iran’s infrastructure in Syria linking Iran via Iraq to Syria and Lebanon.
The tunnels are estimated to be 130 meters long and wide enough to drive a car through. Image Sat International (ISI), which provided the satellite images and wrote a report, noted that at least one tunnel is being excavated and that the construction accelerated “a few weeks after the base was attacked for the first time,” on September 9, 2019.
Iran is building the Imam Ali base near a new border crossing at Albukamal in Syria. The border was reopened at the end of September after many years when it was closed due to the war on ISIS.
A shed has been used to hide the entrance to the tunnel. “Large dirt piles appeared at the opposite end of the tunnel,” Fox News reports. Western intelligence sources say that missiles and weapons will be stored in the tunnel.
The new Imam Ali base is a serious Iranian investment and shows its plans to link Syria and Iraq via Tehran’s hand.
Source: The Jerusalem Post.