“Tower 22” in Jordan, Al-Tanf in Syria
“Tower 22”, US drone base in Jordan, site of Iranian militia drone attack, which killed 3 and wounded approx. 40 US troops.
Al-Tanf Garrison, illegal US military base in occupied Syria, approx. 15-20 miles from “Tower 22”.
Back into the Shadows? The Future of Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s Other Proxies in Iraq
OCTOBER 2020, VOLUME 13, ISSUE 10, MICHAEL KNIGHTS
“there is also an underlying KH-dominated zone (which the group calls the KH Jazeera Operations Command) that spans the Jurf-Akashat-Qaim area.
Western Anbar and Albu Kamal Bases for KH
KH has worked hard to develop its presence in Anbar, an area to which it is entirely alien as there is virtually no Shi`a population there. KH has been deploying to western Anbar since 2013, and has used the area to reach Syrian battlefields.189 Though Anbar is theoretically under the command of both a three-star military headquarters (Anbar Operations Command) and the PMF (West Anbar Operations Command or axis), there is also an underlying KH-dominated zone (which the group calls the KH Jazeera Operations Command) that spans the Jurf-Akashat-Qaim area.190 In this area, KH has invested great effort in removing adversaries (for instance, ousting the Anbar Operations Command leader, and both customs posts at the Akashat and Qaim end) and building up covert influence networks.191 KH has developed a large informant and influence network in Anbar that spans the Anbar Operations Command, Anbar Police, National Security Service, provincial and district officials, and the 8th and 14th Iraq army divisions.192The western Anbar bases of KH and closely allied militias were detailed in an August 2019 study for CTC Sentinel by this author.193 It consists of two sub-sectors: the eastern Al-Qaim border crossing on the Euphrates, facing the Albu Kamal areas in Syria,194 and the western Akashat sub-sector (headquartered in Rutbah).195 The main KH headquarters in Al-Qaim is the base for PMF brigade 45, the praetorian KH fighting force, and was struck by U.S. forces on December 29, 2019, killing the PMF brigade 45 commander, Kadhim Alwan (Abu Ali al-Dibi).196 KH forces (mainly from PMF brigade 46) control Highway 20 (which parallels the Iraq-Syria border between the two sub-sectors,197 and ranches between the highway and the border.198 bt These rural areas, close to the Iraq-Syria oil pipeline corridor (and its coaxial road), are used to move missile or rocket forces to Syria.199 (Of note, an earlier August 25, 2019, airstrike (apparently Israeli) struck moving vehicles that were positioned about halfway between two of the sites hit later by the United States on December 29, 2019, underlining Israel’s intense focus on the chain of bases.200)
Immediately over the border, a few kilometers west of the Husaybah customs point and linked by dedicated tracks, is KH’s Imam Ali base, just outside the Syrian town of Albu Kamal.bu After the Aleppo campaign at the end of 2016, KH-Syrian Front concentrated its military efforts in Syria on the Deir ez-Zor area and the town of Albu Kamal, which was captured from the Islamic State in September 2017.201 On June 18, 2018, Israel struck KH in Albu Kamal for the first time, hitting the original KH headquarters close to the border,202 and then struck the Imam Ali base on September 8, 2019,203 January 5, 2020,204 and March 11, 2020.205 The latter strike hit 15 structures in the broader Albu Kamal area, including warehouses at the Imam Ali base, another KH site in the industrial quarter, two Fatimiyoun sites, and Hezbollah Harakat al-Nujaba base in Albu Kamal town, and two Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada base just southeast of Albu Kamal town.206 According to press reporting based on satellite imagery, the Imam Ali base may have significant underground facilities, including perhaps a tunnel to the Iraqi side of the border.207 In Mayadin, 50 miles north of Albu Kamal, KH is reported to have other warehouses at a site called al-Haydaria.208″
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