Iran plans to escalate attacks against U.S. troops in Syria, documents show
Source: Washington Post
WP EXCLUSIVE
Iran plans to escalate attacks against U.S. troops in Syria, documents show
THE DISCORD LEAKS | Covert plan to kill Americans is seen as part of a larger Russian-backed strategy to oust the United States from Syria
By Joby Warrick and Evan Hill
June 1, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. EDT
Iran is arming militants in Syria for a new phase of lethal attacks against U.S. troops in the country, while also working with Russia on a broader strategy to drive Americans from the region, intelligence officials and leaked classified documents say.
Iran and its allies are building and training forces to use more powerful armor-piercing roadside bombs intended specifically to target U.S. military vehicles and kill U.S. personnel, according to classified intelligence reports obtained by The Washington Post. Such attacks would constitute an escalation of Iran’s long-running campaign of using proxy militias to launch rocket and drone strikes on U.S. forces in Syria.
Drone attacks have wounded six U.S. service members and killed a Defense Department contractor, and the new explosive devices could add to the toll of U.S. casualties, risking a wider military confrontation with Iran, current and former intelligence analysts and weapons experts say. The same type of weapon, called an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, was used by pro-Iranian insurgents in lethal attacks against American military convoys during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Officials with Iran’s elite Quds Force unit directed and oversaw testing of one of the explosives, which reportedly sliced through a tank’s armored plating in a trial run conducted in late January in Dumayr, east of Damascus, the Syrian capital, according to one of the intelligence reports. The document, part of the trove of classified materials leaked on the messaging platform Discord, appears to be based on intercepted communications by Syrian and Lebanese militants allied to Iran. One apparent attempt to use such devices against U.S. forces was apparently thwarted in late February when three bombs were seized by U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, a second document states.
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By Joby Warrick
Joby Warrick joined The Washington Post’s National staff in 1996. He has served with the Post's investigative and national security teams, and writes about the Middle East, terrorism and weapons proliferation. He is the author of three books, including “Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS," which was awarded a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. Twitter https://twitter.com/jobywarrick
By Evan Hill
Evan Hill is an investigative reporter at The Washington Post focused on open-source and visual forensic techniques. He joined The Post from the New York Times in 2023 and was previously a reporter on the Times's Visual Investigations team, where he shared in three Pulitzer Prizes. Twitter https://twitter.com/evanhill
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/01/discord-leaks-iran-russia-syria/
Exclusive: Iran is arming militants in Syria for a new phase of lethal attacks against U.S. troops in the country, while also working with Russia on a broader strategy to drive Americans from the region, intelligence officials and leaked classified documents say. https://wapo.st/43ytMA6
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They are prepared to attack our troops because they know what to expect in retaliation?
I mean, connect the dots.
Response to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)
