Syrian Albukamal .. Israeli-Iranian confrontation arena

Maan al-Khidr - Syrian-Turkish border

At 3 am on Monday, explosions rocked the town of Albukamal and its countryside. It was easy to anticipate the target. It was the "new authority" as Muhammad describes it, a pseudonym for a young Syrian who witnessed the air attacks on sites in the city and its countryside.

According to several local sources, military sites belonging to Iraqi groups loyal to Iran, in addition to Syria, were subjected to simultaneous violent air raids that caused deaths and injuries.

Official accounts varied in explaining the details of what happened. The Lebanese Hezbollah media quoted a "Syrian military source" as saying that what happened was "Israeli attacks in which Jordanian airspace was used and the Americans at the al-Tanf base provided logistical support to them." Humanity was non-existent. "

The popular crowd
But the mayor of Qaim district in Anbar province, Ahmed al-Mahalawi, confirmed that the shelling targeted and destroyed a new site being created by factions belonging to the Popular Mobilization.

In response to Al Jazeera's questions, a Pentagon official denied the accusations against Washington of responsibility for the attacks.

He said US forces were not responsible for any attacks in Albukamal against pro-Iranian groups, and that the focus of the US-led international coalition was on countering IS and supporting its local allies in stabilizing.

Who controls Albokamal?

According to information obtained by Al-Jazeera Net, the factions of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization and pro-Iranian groups constitute the main military force in the area extending from the Syrian-Iraqi border to the depth of Deir Ezzor countryside, as these forces contributed to the elimination of the organization along with the Syrian regular forces.

The sources pointed out that these groups formed positions stationed inside the city of Albukamal and access to the border crossing between Iraq and Syria, the most important of which is the newly established Imam Ali complex, which includes ammunition depots and weapons belonging to the pro-Iranian movement, and groups from the Lebanese Hezbollah.

According to the sources, the region, which consists of the southern bank of the Euphrates River to the border with Iraq, has not witnessed any Russian air presence or movement since the departure of the Islamic State, while US planes are active on both banks from the base of al-Tanf on the Syrian-Iraqi border to the base field age in Deir Ezzor countryside.

Soft side

According to former Syrian writer and military soldier Abdel Nasser al-Ayed, the most important reason for the Israelis - and behind them Washington - in the repeated targeting of the positions of pro-Iranian groups in Albukamal, is because they are located in a region considered a soft side.

Al-Ayed told Al-Jazeera Net that "these foreign forces exist in an environment that rejects them and does not constitute an incubator, as well as the strategic location not only military but economic represented by the use of this Syrian desert to smuggle oil from Iraq and Iran to the Syrian regime and pro-Iranian groups in Syria."

Ayed adds that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pursuing a strategy of cutting or draining the arteries that Tehran feeds on Syria in the face of US and Israeli escalation against Tehran in the region.

In his view, Washington and Tel Aviv see Syria and Iraq - or their border - as low-cost arenas with Iran politically and militarily.

160 Israeli strike
Ayed reveals that Tel Aviv has targeted Iranian groups in Syria with more than 160 strikes in various locations where these groups are deployed, becoming the main destination of the Israeli Air Force.

He pointed out that the raids centered in southern Syria around the capital and in the countryside of Quneitra near the border with the occupied Golan, in addition to sites in Homs countryside and near the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Ayed summarizes the Israeli strategy as a key priority on the Israeli prime minister's agenda ahead of the elections, by confining enemies in the region and considering the region free of adversaries except Iran and its support groups.