Israeli strike at Iranian drone assembly site in Syria unlikely to help Ukraine, says military expert
Iranian drone Shahed-136 in the sky over Kyiv, October 17 (Photo:REUTERS/Roman Petushkov)
An Israeli strike at the Iranian drone manufacturing plant in Syria is unlikely help Ukraine, Azeri military expert Agil Rustamzade said in an interview with NV on Oct. 25.
“Iran has long followed the path of supplying components and organizing production in the countries where its proxies are located – in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria,” he said.
“Israel hit a plant that produced drones to arm Iranian proxies in Syria… (not drones for supply) to Russia.”
Israel hit an Iranian drone assembly plant near Damascus, Syria, overnight on Oct. 22, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
In late August, international media outlets, citing representatives of Western intelligence, began reporting that Russia had received hundreds of combat drones from Iran. This information was also confirmed by the White House.
According to CNN, Russia received three types of Iranian drones: the Mohajer-6, Shahed-129, and Shahed-191.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russian troops now have about 300 of these Iranian-made drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that Moscow had ordered a total of 2,400 drones from Tehran.
Iran has denied supplying drones to Russia, although its denial is false – the first evidence of Iranian drone usage by Russia emerged as far back as mid-September.
Russia employs these drones not only against military targets, but also against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, endangering civilians.
According to Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, the Ukrainian military is now intercepting 85% of the Shahed suicide drones sent against Ukraine.
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