Iranian-backed forces massing around Deir Ezzor city
On June 15, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirmed during an interview with the Israeli radio station 103FM that Iranian forces are still present in southwestern Syria. However, Liberman denied that these forces had disguised as Syrian Arab Army (SAA) or operating within its ranks.
A week earlier, a report of the Wall Street Journal claimed that Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah have returned to the southern governorates of Daraa and Quneitra dressed in SAA uniforms and raising Syrian flags, after initially appearing to withdraw. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Iranians and Hezbollah did this to avoid Israeli airstrikes.
Back then, the US-based newspaper didn’t present any evidence to support its claims and said that its sources were “rebel commanders,” who are well-known for their stands against the SAA and its allies.
Israel and the US stepped up their political and military pressure on Iranian forces and Hezbollah in Syria, since the beginning of this year, in order to push them out from the war torn country. In the same time, the main stream media (MSM) increased its reports about the “Iranian presences in Syria.”
Lieberman’s statement confirms that the Wall Street Journal report was nothing more than a part of the ongoing propaganda war against Iranian forces and Hezbollah in Syria.
