By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-08-26

The Syrian port of Baniyas provides Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with a foothold on the Mediterranean Sea that it uses to supply its proxies with weapons and military equipment, experts told Al-Fassel.

Baniyas is "a strategic area the IRGC uses to supply its affiliates with ammunition and missiles, and especially to provide Lebanese Hizbullah with logistical support," Syrian activist Mohammed al-Beik said.

The port and the area around it have become a closed military zone that no one may enter, he said -- not even local residents who are known to work as fishermen.

Since Hizbullah's control over Lebanese ports and even the Beirut airport came to light, Baniyas has served as "a vital artery" for the group to receive supplies of Iranian missiles and weapons, al-Beik said.

To avoid detection, military equipment is transported from Baniyas to Lebanon concealed as other types of shipments, he said.

The Baniyas region, especially the Batraya area on the city's southern outskirts, has been transformed into "Iranian military barracks and now includes headquarters, warehouses and private homes for the IRGC," he said.

Hizbullah operatives and traders close to the Iran-backed party are also present in the area, and are known to engage in shady activities, al-Beik said.

Access to the Mediterranean

The Syrian port of Baniyas is of great importance to the Iranian regime, which "is striving to maintain its control over it, as it is a maritime window to the Mediterranean for Iran," Syrian journalist Mohammed al-Abdullah told Al-Fassel.

The regime's goal of linking Tehran to the Mediterranean underscored the importance of Baniyas for Iran, in the event Lebanese ports are subjected to strict monitoring by the international community, he said.

"Furthermore, the port of Baniyas is a key point of contention between Russia and Iran over control of Syria," al-Abdullah added, especially since Russia has naval bases in Tartous and Latakia and has freedom of action in those ports.

Hence, the port of Baniyas is "the lung through which Iranian projects breathe," he said, noting that there are "serious suspicions" that the IRGC also is using the port to export weapons and traffic illegal drugs.

"The Syrian authorities have no absolute control over the movement of ships and boats that enter and leave the port," he added.