What Is Behind Iran’s Announcement of Its Intention to Build Military Factories in Syria?

Iran is still expanding its military presence in Syria, opening the door to the construction of weapon factories.

Iranian Defense Minister, Amir Hatami, expressed readiness for cooperation with Syria in building factories and establishing production lines for strategic defense products.

Hatami stated that the objective is to enhance the security of the Syrian people and develop multi-party defense infrastructure, as well as strengthen the weapons base in Syria, according to the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, on May 8, 2023.

 

Defense Industries

The Syrian regime’s Defense Minister, Ali Abbas, welcomed Iran’s statements and said that enhancing Syria’s defense capabilities would make it better prepared to combat terrorism as a pillar of resistance.

During a meeting in Tehran on May 10, the Iranian Defense Minister reiterated the ministry’s readiness to utilize its capabilities in the development of Syria’s defense industry infrastructure.

This was emphasized during the meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Syrian regime, Major General Abdulkarim Mahmoud Ibrahim, as reported by IRNA.

In response, Ibrahim emphasized the necessity of elevating and expanding relations between Tehran and Damascus across various fields, particularly in military and defense cooperation, according to IRNA.

This new direction from Tehran follows the visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the capital city of Damascus on May 3, 2023, leading a high-level political and economic delegation. This visit marked the first by an Iranian president to Syria since 2010.

The Iranian delegation, consisting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Roads and Urban Development, Defense, Oil, and Communications, was received by President Bashar al-Assad at the Republican Palace in Damascus.

Iran’s alignment with Assad to suppress the revolution in 2011 opened wide doors for Tehran to implement its project and dream of accessing the Mediterranean Sea and linking Iran, Syria, and Lebanon via militias.

Iran seeks to solidify its military presence on Syrian soil and currently has around 100,000 fighters deployed in Syria since its military intervention in 2012 to quell the popular uprising.

While Iran claimed its presence in Syria was limited to “military advisers,” its militias played a significant role in supporting Assad’s forces in reclaiming vast areas from opposition forces.

In parallel, Iran has taken control of several defense facilities in various Syrian provinces.

The commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard are stationed in defense factories in the city of al-Safirah, Aleppo countryside, which they have turned into their military headquarters and residences. They even named the place “Sayyidah Ruqayya.”

790 Defense Factories in al-Safirah are the largest in Syria, located at the foothills of two mountains southwest of the city.

They are protected by two anti-aircraft battalions stationed on each mountain summit, tasked with securing the facilities and the massive warehouses within them.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard militias are also present in the defense factories and scientific research centers in Masyaf, Hama countryside.

 

Established Factories

It is worth noting that these facilities are frequently targeted by Israeli airstrikes, resulting in massive explosions and sometimes casualties among regime forces and Iranian militias.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz previously presented a map of ten Syrian facilities on September 12, 2022, claiming that Iran used them to manufacture precision missiles. He accused Iran of controlling Syrian military industries.

According to Gantz, Iran has turned some Syrian military factories into infrastructure that produces precision missiles and advanced weapons directed at Hezbollah and Iranian militias in the region.

He revealed an underground site in Masyaf, Hama countryside, stating that it is involved in manufacturing precision missiles that pose a significant potential threat to the region and “Israel.”

A Reuters investigation published on April 12, 2023, confirmed Iran’s efforts to build an Iranian-made air defense system network in Syria.

The report revealed that Iran has deployed Iranian air defense systems on Syrian territory and has supplied advanced communication equipment, radar batteries, and spare parts for these systems.

Many military experts agree that the weapons developed by Iran remain of a conventional nature.

Under the banner of technological self-sufficiency, Iranian universities and military academies are striving to innovate, particularly by locally upgrading their existing equipment and meeting their own needs.

In recent years, Iran has developed over 40 types of missiles, such as the Qadr-F and Sejjil-2, with a range of about 2,000 kilometers, according to a report by the US intelligence agency.

In addition to these missiles, Iran has developed several others, including the Soumar cruise missile, which was announced in 2015 and has a range of 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers.

Iran has also revealed numerous underground missile complexes, commonly known as “missile cities.”

The first three complexes were officially unveiled in September 2015, January 2016, and May 2017 after years of development, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

 

Demonstrating Influence

In light of this, Iran seeks to showcase its military prowess in Syria, especially following the return of the Assad regime to the Arab fold through lifting Damascus’ membership suspension in the Arab League by Arab foreign ministers on May 7, 2023.

Iran has taken steps to expand its influence in Syria, anticipating the reinstatement of the Syrian regime in the Arab League and the restoration of its relations with Saudi Arabia.

This includes signing new agreements and treaties with Assad. During his recent visit to Damascus, Bashar al-Assad signed a memorandum of understanding for comprehensive long-term strategic cooperation between the two parties with Ebrahim Raisi.

They also signed a meeting protocol for cooperation in the fields of railways and civil aviation, along with a memorandum of understanding regarding free zones between Syria and Iran.

Therefore, alongside Tehran’s control over the security, economic, and military files in Syria, with significant interest in cultural infiltration as well, the Iranian step of military production and manufacturing on Syrian soil is being added to that.

However, the Iranian step at this timing remains subject to broad questions about its success in a country that is economically devastated, internationally punished, and in need of a reconstruction process that the West refuses to initiate before the regime engages in a political solution according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254.

 

Messages of Domination

In this context, Tarek Haj Bakri, an expert in the Syrian chemical war and military affairs, believes that Tehran’s talk about the possibility of building weapon factories in Syria “comes within the framework of completing Iranian domination over Syria and gaining control over all its capabilities and resources.”

This was especially since there have been reports recently about the selling of Syrian lands to Iran in exchange for the Syrian regime’s debts to Tehran.

Haj Bakri added to Al-Estiklal that “this step is a formal threat directed at Israel and the United States, indicating that Iran is present on Syrian territories and no one can remove it from this country. It is militarily infiltrated and dominant within a long-term strategy.”

The military expert also noted that “Iran does not possess the ability to manufacture truly advanced weapons that are commercially viable in the era. Its weapons are not sufficiently advanced, and therefore it can be said that Iran’s new step does not pose a threat as it is non-competitive in the global arms market.

“Iran’s talk about the possibility of building weapon factories in Syria coincides with the visit of the Iranian president to Damascus and the meeting with Assad, thus, giving it importance by stating that something significant has been signed between the two countries, and it is not just a visit but a long-term dominance over Syria and imposing conditions on Assad in many sensitive issues related to Iran and its presence in Syria.”

Since 2012, Iran has managed to dismantle the Syrian state’s economy and extract economic shares that are considered Syria’s sovereign wealth.

All of this was done in exchange for Iran’s financial support to prevent Assad’s downfall and in return for the funds it spent in the country.

Iran signed around 35 agreements with the Syrian regime in 2019, including 23 signed in January of that year alone. This was preceded by dozens of contracts, memoranda, and understandings.

As part of the explanations for Iran’s significant rush to sign agreements with the Syrian regime, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the former head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian parliament, stated in early May 2023: “Syria owes Iran $30 billion, and I hope that the fate of this debt will be determined during my visit. Moscow has obtained its debts from Damascus, but Tehran has not.”

The Iranian newspaper, Kayhan, stated in a report published in January 2018 that the world should realize that Iran is the one who has borne the cost of keeping Assad in power in Syria.