A well-informed military source revealed to Zaman al-Wasl about Hezbollah’s main base in Syria and its secret supply routes, five days after the head of the Iranian-backed militia announced cutting down his forces in the war-torn country, like reported by zamanalwsl.net.
The border village of Jdeidat Yabous, 45 km (30 miles) west of Damascus, is the main stronghold for Hezbollah since the regime’s army had allocated Battalion 828 of the 18th Infantry Division to Iran’s proxy.
Hezbollah has reconstructed the battalion that overlooking at the border. New hangars, training camps and depots were built, in addition to setting up a helipad where the Gazelle helicopters used to transfer senior officials of Iran, regime and Hezbollah to Damascus and vice versa, according to the source.
Two Syrian Gazelle helicopters, which affiliated to Mezzeh military airport, land permanently in the helipad where the regime uses the helicopters to transfer its diplomats and top officials from the capital to the base where Hezbollah militants secure their journey inside Lebanon, the source added.
One of the most Hezbollah officials who uses the helipad is Mohammad Jafar Qasir (Hajj Fadi), the general coordinator of Hezbollah in Syria, and who is responsible for smuggling weapons and money from Tehran to Lebanon, via Syria.
The heavily armed Lebanese Shi’ite movement has played a vital role in the war next door, helping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad reclaim much of the country.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has reduced its forces in Syria as fighting died down though it still has fighters all over the country, its leader said on Friday.
Main Hezbollah routes to enter Syria is Damascus route that begins from the Lebanese Bayader al-Adas crossroads (the Ayta al-Fakhar-Hamara), southwest of Sultan Yaqoub al-Fawqa in the western Bekaa Valley, where a permanent barrack and barrier for Hezbollah is located on the main road.
Hezbollah militants follow Aita al-Fakhar road, 1500 meters, then they pass to the north of the valley, behind Wadi al-Luz hilltop to drive through a dirt road crossing the Syrian border to reach the 826th Infantry Battalion.
Then they cross the International Road (Damascus-Beirut), passing through the entrance gate of the 18th Infantry Brigade to reach the opposite bank where Syria’s Hezbollah headquraets is located.
Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV that “There are no regions in Syria that we have fully emptied out, but there is no need for the numbers to stay the same,”
“We have reduced the forces based on the needs of the current situation,” he added, according to Reuters.
Rebels and jihadists have killed more than 130,000 pro-regime forces since the armed conflict erupted eight years ago with the brutal repression of protests against al-Assad, according to local monitoring groups.
