Cairo: An upsurge in attacks against pro-Iranian militias in Syria has prompted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to relocate heavy weaponry, a monitoring group has reported.
The Revolutionary Guard and allied militias, fighting along government forces in the war-wracked country, have completely evacuated heavy weapons from their military sites on the outskirts of the town of Al Mayadin in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The rural area west of Al Mayadin has been a major site for the Revolutionary Guard forces and its allied local militias since April 2019, according to the UK-based Observatory.
Heavy weapons
The withdrawn heavy weapons have been redistributed to other sites, it said.
The evacuation comes due to a recent increase in attacks against the Revolutionary Guard and its allies in the area. Last week, four pro-Iran Iraqi militiamen were killed in a drone strike as their car was crossing the border into eastern Syria, the Observatory reported.
Israel mounted 39 air attacks in Syria last year targeting government forces, their allied pro-Iran militias and Hezbollah fighters, according to the Observatory. A total of 217 people were killed in the airstrikes, the monitor said.