Iran supplies oil to Syria’s al-Assad in return for influence: Cut the supply line

 Bassam Barabandi:

 'Iran’s supply of oil to the al-Assad régime allows it to continue killing Syrian citizens and buys Iran influence in Syria and the region.

 The ongoing disputes surrounding the Adrian Darya I, the Iranian oil tanker previously detained in Gibraltar and now thought to have offloaded its oil in Syria, has brought renewed attention to Tehran’s supply of oil to the al-Assad régime.

 Through this supply line, Iran has tightened its control over the al-Assad régime, which needs Iranian oil to demonstrate it can run the country and to provide its supporters with basic daily needs such as gasoline and electricity.

 Syria has suffered from fuel crises over the years, driven by overreliance on Iranian oil. In 2015, the government’s introduction of rationing following electricity shortages provoked rare criticism from loyalists, who accused the government of corruption and being unable to run the country. This year, this crisis has worsened, with continued fuel shortages, especially during winter 2019 when millions of Syrians did not have enough fuel to cook their food or heat their homes.

 These crises served as an Iranian lesson to the régime – proving that it depends on Iran to survive, not only militarily but also economically. Since losing control of the Syrian oilfields to ISIS in 2012, the al-Assad régime has been reliant on Iran for fuel. From 2013 to late 2018, Iran shipped an average of two million barrels a month to the Syrian régime. Iran allowed the régime to defer payments. As a recent report on the oil crisis written by a Middle East Institute macroeconomics expert, Karam Shaar, concludes: “Without a steady supply of crude oil from Iran, the régime of Bashar al-Assad would have faced a complete economic collapse.”

 In return, the régime has granted Iran important economic, cultural and military investments in Syria. Economically, Iran has been investing in Syrian infrastructure ranging from building and managing ports to collaborating with the régime on telecommunications projects. It recently gained a contract to build 200,000 housing units in a south Damascus suburb. Culturally, the al-Assad régime has allowed Iran to promote Shiism; al-Assad issued a decree authorizing the teaching of Shiism in Syrian schools and opened the country’s first Shiite public school in 2014. Militarily, Iran not only has access to Syrian régime military bases, but satellite images from Image Sat International recently suggested that it is also constructing the largest military base in Syria, the Imam Ali compound, close to the Iraqi border.

 Al-Assad has also allowed Iran to have its own militias and to establish pro-Iranian groups in Syria similar to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraq’s al-Nujaba. These Iranian proxies will be too strong for any future Syrian government to combat – even if al-Assad remains in power.

 And there are signs that Iranian influence in Syria is expanding. Hossein Salami, the newly appointed commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has called for the IRGC to expand against its “enemies” in Syria, while Iranian chief of staff Major General Mohammad Baqeri said that his country is building a new naval base on the Syrian coast. The Syrian régime has reportedly given an Iranian company close to the IRGC the contract to build a new port in the city of Tartus, which could be the destination for future oil shipments.

 These benefits, which far exceed the direct financial profit from selling oil, explain the importance Iran placed on freeing the Adrian Darya 1 from its detainment in Gibraltar.

 Tehran used all available means to try to regain control of the tanker, including bullying and threats connected to its nuclear program. It officially pledged that oil would not go to the Assad régime. But it did. The ship changed its name and flag and then headed toward Syria, contrary to all of Iran’s written pledges to the British authorities. For those who still trust Iran’s pledges, the Adrian Darya incident exposes the untrustworthy nature of the régime.

 In response, the US sanctioned Adrian Darya 1 and its captain for enabling the IRGC to “ship and transfer large volumes of oil … to fund the régime’s malign activities and propagate terrorism.”

 International efforts to break al-Assad’s supply line should be supported. If Iran continues to be able to move freely in Syria under the cover of supporting the Assad régime, it can be expected to try to extend its control over Syrian resources, including close to the Israeli border. The more entrenched Iran is in Syria, the stronger its hand is to blackmail the international community in any upcoming negotiations.

 Preventing Iran from propping up the al-Assad régime with oil is in the long-term interests of the Syrian people and the wider Middle East because it undermines the malign Iranian project to dominate the region.

 The policy of sanctions therefore must continue.

 The US should also convince regional countries and the international community of the importance of finding a solution to the Syrian crisis, which restrains Iranian behavior without giving Iran financial incentives. Enriching Iran allows it to continue funding its proxies and solidify its influence across the region.

 Consequently, the international community must approach the reconstruction of Syria with care. Any investment, however small, by the international community, UN, or NGOs in infrastructure or aid projects in the areas controlled by the Syrian régime will only benefit the Iranian project, especially considering it helps relieve Iran and al-Assad from sanctions pressure. The régime is not only selectively reconstructing loyal areas, but it continues to control which areas receive UN aid. For example, when it previously denied aid to rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.

 Instead, alongside sanctions, the international community should press the régime to implement Security Council resolution 2254 - which calls for a political settlement in Syria and is the first step to a solution, including the withdrawal of all foreign powers from Syrian territory. Only then, and once malign Iranian influence is fully confronted, can Syria begin its reconstruction.'

Syrian régime destroys olive trees, crops in recaptured areas

 'Syrian régime forces began a new form of retaliation against local residents in the city of Kafr Zita in the northern Hama countryside by cutting down olive trees in the city.

 The area is known area rich in olive and pistachio trees which are estimated at 1 million trees.

 Mohammed Nayef, a citizen of the area said that the régime has prevented people from reaching the city, much of which has been reduced to rubble by régime bombardment.

 "We do not know what the real goal of the régime’s militia by cutting down trees in the agricultural land surrounding the city – perhaps for fuel," he said, although he deemed the felling of trees in the area a ‘retaliatory act’.

"If they [residents] are able to return to Kafr Zita later, they will only find destroyed houses and fallen trees."

 Madin Khalil, the head of the local council, explained that the régime forces started to fell trees in the area north of Kafr Zita, pointing out some of these trees are between 15 and 70 years old.

 Khalil added that these forces also burned wheat and barley crops during their military operations in the northern countryside of Hama and southern Idlib.

 "Many houses were burned in both Kafr Nabuda and the surrounding towns. The régime forces are deliberately vandalizing and damaging everything. It is normal for those who killed, robbed and destroyed property to burn trees and cut them,” a refugee in the area said.

 These practices were also seen in the northern countryside of Homs. Ali al-Hussein, 56, from the area, said that the régime forces burned 100 olive trees in 2015.

 Bashar al-Assad's régime has recently launched an offensive, recapturing areas in north Syria.'

Syrian churches targeted by Assad forces

 'A new report alleges that forces loyal to the régime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are responsible for the majority of targeted attacks on churches since the country’s civil war began in 2011.

 In a report released September 9, the Syrian Network for Human Rights says that they have evidence of the Assad régime targeting of churches, mosques, and religious sites in Syria between March of 2011 and September of 2019.

 “While the régime claims that it has not committed any violations, and that it is keen on protecting the Syrian state and the rights of minorities, it has carried out qualitative operations in suppressing and terrorizing all those who sought political change and reform, regardless of religion or race, and of whether this causes the destruction of the heritage of Syria and the displacement of its minorities,” said, SNHR chairman Fadel Abdul Ghany on Monday.

 The report identifies several attacks on religious targets, included bombings of houses of worship that were not near any military installation or equipment, and the transformation of houses of worship into centers for military operations.

 The report, entitled “Targeting Christian Places of Worship in Syria is a Threat to World Heritage,” is the result of more than eight years’ work in Syrian towns and villages and obtaining reports from people on the ground and from activists, SNHR said. Sources included firsthand accounts of attacks, medical personnel who treated casualties and victims, and local activists with documented evidence of the attacks.

 SNHR report presented a list of 124 attacks on Christian “places of worship” since March of 2011.

 Seventy-five of the attacks—60 percent—came from pro-Assad forces against 48 separate Christian sites. Those forces included the Syrian army, security forces, local militias, and Shiite foreign militias.



 Thirty-three of the attacks were reportedly conducted against 21 houses of worship by factions of the armed opposition; 12 attacks were conducted by extremist Islamist groups including ISIS and Hay-at Tahrir al Sham.

 The Aleppo governorate saw the highest number of attacks on Christian churches, according to the report, followed by the Homs governorate and then the Damascus suburbs.

 The Syrian régime forces were responsible for the highest number of attacks in the Homs governorate, with 27 incidences, and a further 20 incidents in the Damascus suburbs. Opposition forces were responsible for 24 incidents in the Aleppo governorate, according to the report.

 The targeting of churches in Syria falls within the “wider context” of military forces “targeting the vital centers” of opponents, Ghany told reporters on Monday. Those targets also include other civilian institutions, including hospitals and schools.

 Bishop Nicholas James Samra of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton told CNA that “the situation is very convoluted” in Syria and urged caution in interpreting the report's findings.

 Samra said that many Christians in the region still see Assad as the best prospect for their their own security.

 “The big fear of the Christians—the majority—is if he [Assad] goes, who will come in? And that is the big, big fear”

 While both sides targeted Christian churches, the Assad régime attacked these sites more effectively with better weapons, the report claimed.

 According to evidence taken from several of the attacks—shrapnel, photo analysis, determination of which forces were controlling the area at the time of the attack—the régime was found to have attacked more churches despite a greater capacity to target specific facilities, and a lesser chance of accidentally hitting a church while shelling a neighborhood.

 The régime also systematically justified attacks on churches by publicly saying they had become operation centers for opposition forces, Erica Hanichak of Americans for a Free Syria told reporters on Monday.



 The report said that some churches suffered multiple attacks; the Church of the Lady of Peace in Homs was attacked seven times by Syrian government forces, and the Church of Saint Takla in the Damascus Suburbs was attacked four times.

 The armed opposition attacked the Roman Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross in Damascus four times, as well as churches in Aleppo during fighting with the régime forces there in 2012 and 2013.

 Some churches were attacked several times by multiple entities; the Armenian Church of Independence in Raqqa was attacked three times, twice by ISIS and once by Syrian régime forces. The Church of St. Samaan in the Aleppo suburbs was attacked once by Syrian régime forces, once by the al Nusra Front, and once by factions of the armed opposition.

 Six of the attacks by régime forces were in response to attempts to turn churches into military installations; ISIS did that twice with churches, the report noted.

 In July, Pope Francis sent a letter to Assad, imploring him “to protect the lives of civilians and preserve the main infrastructures, such as schools, hospitals and health facilities” in the province of Idlib where the régime forces had been fighting rebel forces.

 Régime forces had been blamed for the bombing of civilian targets, including markets and hospitals, and of using chemical weapons against civilian populations.

 Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has previously drawn attention to the targeting of civilian buildings by the régime, calling it “highly unlikely” that such attacks were accidental.

 Pope Francis’ July 22 letter said that “what is happening” in Idlib “is inhuman and cannot be accepted.” '