Iran activates Tehran-Mediterranean corridor

By Levent Tok, Adham Kako

ANKARA

After the Bashar Assad regime and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi fighters gained possession of the regions once occupied by the terror group Daesh near the Syria-Iraq borderline, military activity began at that line, local sources told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.

This was the first time Iran dispatched military delivery through this route, by which Iran reached the Mediterranean.

The terror group Daesh abandoned its last settlement in Syria, al-Buqamal, in November. Then, Syrian regime forces and pro-regime foreign terror groups gained a huge portion of the area next to Syria-Iraq border.

Seeing that the Iraq-Syria line was seized by the regime and Iran-backed groups, Iran effectively realized the Tehran-Damascus line of the corridor through which it aims to reach the Mediterranean.

According to the sources, the regime and Hashd al-Shaabi fighters came together near borderline, then a convoy carrying Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hashd al- Shaabi fighters entered Deir Ez-Zour province after crossing al-Buqamal district, which is by Syria's Iraq border.

Iran has begun to use Tehran-Damascus highway for military purposes. Now, Iran has the opportunity to maintain its military presence in Syria a lot easier.

Syrian opposition points out that removal of foreign fighters from Syria is a significant aspect of securing peace and political transition in the country, referring to sending Iranian-backed foreign terror groups out of the country.

The country has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict according to the UN.