Reports In Lebanese Press: Hizbullah Receives Russian Drones In Syria, Russian Forces Help Deliver 'Humanitarian Aid' For Lebanese Refugees Provided By Iran

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On October 9, 2024, the Lebanese An-Nahar daily published a brief report quoting "intelligence sources" who said that Lebanese Hizbullah had recently received Russian drones and that several experts were training the group's operatives in their use.[1]

A similar report of Russian support for Hizbullah came the following day in the pro-Hizbullah Lebanese Al-Akhbar daily, which claimed that Russian forces stationed at the Khmeimim Airbase in Syria's Latakia governorate had helped oversee the delivery of Iranian "humanitarian aid" for Lebanese refugees displaced by the ongoing Israeli campaign against Hizbullah in southern Lebanon.[2]

In an October 10 article, Al-Akhbar reported that the Syrian government had begun to receive international aid for Lebanese via the Latakia international airport. Iran was the first country to send aid via two planes containing "assorted relief supplies"; an "informed source" reported that Russian forces stationed at the Khmeimim airbase were employed as intermediaries to oversee the unloading of the supplies, to prevent their being targeted in Israeli airstrikes.  Israel reportedly struck vehicles carrying "humanitarian aid" which had arrived from Iraq at the Hisya' industrial city in Syria's Homs governorate, near the Lebanese border, on October 6 and again on October 9.[3]

A member of the executive office in Latakia governorate told Al-Akhbar that there are currently about 3,600 Lebanese refugees in the governorates, spread among various hotels and chalets.

Over the past year, since the outbreak of Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas, Hizbullah, and other Iranian proxies, there have been several reports of Russian support for Hizbullah and other Iran-backed militias in Syria.

For instance, in November 2023, the Syrian opposition-affiliated website Euphrates Post reported that a Russian Ilyushin plane loaded with weapons, ammunition, and logistical equipment took off from the Russian-controlled Khmeimim Airbase and landed at the airport in the Syrian town of Qamishli, where Assad regime and Russian forces delivered its cargo to the regime's 54th Regiment, which consists of Syrian regime, Russian, and Hizbullah forces. A second Russian Ilyushin plane carrying weapons and ammunition belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly arrived at the Qamishli airport from Deir Al-Zour, and its contents were transferred to Iran-backed militias and the 54th Regiment.[4]

In December 2023, Al-Askari Media, which supports Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), published a series of infographics and an article according to which "Russia equips the Lebanese party of Iran [i.e. Hizbullah] with advanced air defense systems via Wagner mercenaries with the coordination and facilitation of the gangs of [Bashar] Al-Assad."[5]

The Istanbul-based Syrian opposition outlet Syria TV reported in August 2024 that Iran's IRGC had finished building its first naval base between the cities of Jableh and Baniyas on the Syrian coastline, in collaboration with Russia and under military cover provided by the Assad regime army.[6]

At the same time, there have been several reports that Russia is working to prevent Iran-backed groups from using Syrian soil to launch attacks on Israel and U.S. bases in the country.[7]