Earlier this month, Syria’s Interior Ministry announced that specialist units had foiled an attempt to bring a shipment of advanced weapons and missiles through the Al-Tanf crossing on the border with Iraq. Investigations showed that the consignment was bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The General Authority for Land and Sea Ports and Customs said the weapons had been “securely concealed inside an oil tanker” and were due to be taken to the coastal city of Baniyas. Hezbollah denied all knowledge.
Iran’s response was swift. Within hours of the Syrian Interior Ministry’s announcement that it had intercepted the consignment, Tehran targeted the Al-Tanf area inside Syrian territory, close to the border triangle with Iraq and Jordan (until recently, American personnel had also been stationed there). The strike was interpreted as a warning to Damascus that Syria remained within range.
Less than two weeks earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani visited Beirut and spoke positively about including Hezbollah in any future dialogue to resolve disputes. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has previously echoed this sentiment. Yet this was neither the first shipment to be intercepted nor the first time Syrian authorities had announced that such a smuggling operation had been foiled. Some consignments have been seized without public disclosure.
It attracted attention in part because some linked it to al-Sharaa’s recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Ankara on the sidelines of a NATO summit, and to Trump’s proposal that Syria should disarm Hezbollah, instead of Israel, given that the Lebanese armed forces were seemingly unable to do so. Even though al-Sharaa has since said that Syria has no intention of intervening militarily in Lebanon, it nevertheless raises questions about what Washington expects of Syria, how far that role might extend, and what consequences it could carry.
No more smuggling
The significance of Iran targeting Al-Tanf extends beyond its former role as the site of a US military base. The area is now a sensitive border point where Syrian authorities are preventing weapons from being transported from Iraq to Lebanon via Syria. This is part of a Syrian effort to re-establish control over its porous borders. Weapons smuggling from Iran to Lebanon also places Syria in the conflict between Israel and Iran, which Damascus wants to avoid. Closing its borders to smuggling is Damascus being proactive, but this would likely have become an American demand before long.
