Hezbollah reinforcements arrive in eastern Syria following IS attack on pro-Iran militia base

Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have sent reinforcements to eastern Syria following a deadly attack on a base belonging to pro-Iran militias by Islamic State militants.

Local sources told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that a military convoy made up of about twenty vehicles, most of them mounted with guns, arrived in the Mazare’ area near the city of Mayadeen in the eastern Syrian province of Deir az-Zour.

On Saturday IS militants attacked a major base belonging to pro-Iran militias near Mayadeen, according to Arabic news websites, killing or injuring seven militia fighters and causing significant damage.

The Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement intervened in the Syrian conflict on the side of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime shortly after it broke out a decade ago, and pro-Iran militias have a strong presence in eastern Syria.

The sources who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said that the militias were on high alert as the Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard reinforcements arrived.

They said they believed that the reinforcements would carry out a widespread combing operation to hunt IS militants in the desert and countryside around Mayadeen.

IS lost its last stronghold in Syria in 2019 but militant cells remain active in the east of the country. They have carried out several attacks on pro-Iran groups since the beginning of the year.