By: Tal Beeri and Alex Greenberg
In the early morning hours of August 28, Aleppo International Airport was attacked for the third time this year. According to a Syrian official announcement, the runway was damaged and shut down. Earlier this year (March 2023), the field was attacked twice. Even then, the runway was damaged and shut down. In addition, weapons storage sites near the airfield were damaged.
The Aleppo area is a geographical anchor within the Iranian corridor to Syria, and the Aleppo airport serves as one of the entry gates of the aerial route as part of the weapons corridor from Iran to Syria and Lebanon. On the “normal” routes of the Iranian corridor to Syria and Lebanon, see a detailed report published by us in October 2022.
Armenian communities live in Aleppo. Cooperation between Iran and Armenia extends to Syria as well as other regions of Iranian interest. For example, in 2007, Armenia delivered rockets to Iran that pro-Iranian militias in Iraq launched against American forces. Currently, Iran supports Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan over the Karabakh region, and the IRGC’s Quds Force operates in this area. As of this writing, the conflict is in a state of high tension and may flare up again in the near future.
Iran is acting against Azerbaijan on multiple fronts, with the Quds Force conducting operations in asymmetric warfare, information warfare, and transferring weapons and military equipment to Armenia. Since regional Quds Force units report to the Central Command, led by Ismail Qaani, operational demands in various areas are coordinated.
On this basis, it is possible that Iran exploits Armenia not only to subvert Azerbaijan, but also to support the Iranian effort in Syria and Lebanon, and that some of the weapons and equipment sent to Armenia “continue” to Syria and then to Lebanon. It should be underlined that the Iranian effort in both arenas works against Israel: indirectly in the Armenian arena (Israel supports Azerbaijan) and directly in the Syrian and Lebanese arenas.
Mehdi Sobhani, Iran’s Ambassador to Syria, left his position in March 2023 to become Iranian Ambassador to Armenia. The Iranian ambassador to Syria and Lebanon is normally a senior IRGC officer in charge of coordinating Iranian activity with Hezbollah and the Assad regime, rather than a diplomat appointed by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Given this, it is probable that the choice of Mehdi Sobhani as Iranian ambassador to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, reflects the Revolutionary Guards’ high regard for Armenia.
Is Armenia used as a transit point, covering and hiding armament deliveries from Iran to Syria and then to Lebanon? Is the airport in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, used as a transit point for the passage of weapons, equipment, and operatives to Syria’s Aleppo and Damascus airports, and then by land to Lebanon? All this in order to make it more difficult for the intelligence surveillance of these transfers?
Flight Travel LLC, an Armenian airline created in 2018, acts as a front for Mahan Air’s Armenian headquarters. The US Treasury Department sanctioned Flight Travel LLC for aiding Mahan Air in transporting Shiite militia operatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Syria. These aircraft most certainly carried not only militia operatives but also military equipment and weapons.
As is generally known, Mahan Air is not the only airline with ties to the Revolutionary Guards or that transports weapons, equipment, and operatives. Ma’raj, Qeshm Fares, Pouya Air, and Iran Air are all Iranian airlines that operate within the Iranian corridor and are linked to the IRGC’s activities using cargo and passenger planes. They are all subject to sanctions.
We conducted an up-to-date search for flights from Iran-Tehran to Armenia-Yerevan and discovered that four airlines operate on this route. Three are Armenians, and one is Iranian. We do not rule out Iranian use of Armenian planes as part of the equipment and weapons air corridor that passes through Armenia. The deployment of Armenian planes could thwart intelligence surveillance of Iranian activity by making it more difficult to “cover their tracks.”
The Iranian company operating from Tehran to Yerevan is Iran Air Tour, which is a subsidiary of Iran Air, mentioned above as affiliated with the IRGC.
(Note: It is important to note that assuming that the Iranians operate an air corridor route through Armenia, it is highly likely that they also use “ghost planes” that are not registered and are not tracked in aerial surveillance applications.)
Is Iran Air Tour affiliated with the IRGC? What is the likelihood that it is transferring weapons and military equipment on its flights from Iran to Armenia?
Iran Air Tour first flew to Armenia-Yerevan in January 2022 and now has one daily flight there. As previously stated, Iran Air Tour is a subsidiary of Iran Air, which is associated with the IRGC. It should be mentioned that we previously detected and disclosed that an Iran Air Boeing 747 freight plane was identified as landing six times at Khmeimim Airport – at the Russian military facility south of Latakia – between May and June 2023. According to our assessment, it was either Iranian-Russian cooperation in the framework of the Iranian air arms route to Syria and Lebanon as part of “covering the tracks”, or it was a transit site for Iranian weaponry destined for Russia.
Iran Air Tour was established in 1973. Majid Shekari Birk, who was born in Tabriz in 1961, is the current owner. He “bought” Iran Air Tour through an auction in September 2014 as part of Iran’s “privatization” processes. It should be mentioned that Shekari has controlled an air transport office called Aseman Faraz Iranian since 1986. Dr. Sayyed Reza Mousavi is the CEO of Iran Air Tour.
Iran Air and its subsidiary, Iran Air Tour, were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department on June 23, 2011, for providing support to the IRGC and the Iranian Ministry of Defense. According to the American statement, the mentioned assistance was the transport and transmit of cargo for the IRGC and the Iranian Ministry of Defense. According to an announcement by the US Treasury Department, these two airlines utilized commercial flights to transport military-affiliated equipment and hazardous cargo, including missile parts, to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. It is important to note that, within the framework of the air corridor, passenger aircraft are frequently used as a cover for the transfer of military equipment and weapons.
Majid Shekari (owner of Iran Air Tour) was interviewed by ILNA News Agency on October 16, 2019. The interview was conducted as part of an article released following the disclosure of Iran’s restored usage of the Russian Antonov fleet for civilian flights after a five-year ban. The history of these planes, which included four crashes that killed hundreds of civilians, has created a surge of alarm in Iran. The continued use of Antonov planes was made by Pouya Air, which is also associated with the IRGC, as previously stated, and in direct violation of a presidential edict (by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s former president).
Shekari was interviewed for the article because Iran Air Tour operated Russian Tupolev planes that were decommissioned (one crashed in 2002). Shekari stated during the interview, “… These aircraft can be used for military purposes such as transferring military forces…”
It should be noted that one of Iran Air Tour’s board members is Mehdi Hamidan Poor, who served as general manager of Iran’s main airport, Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, 25 years ago. If Hamidan Pour held this post, it is safe to presume that he is a member of the Revolutionary Guards.
If Iran Air Tour (and maybe Armenian airlines) serve as a platform for carrying weaponry and military equipment from Iran to Armenia, which company can act as a “continuation platform” from Armenia to Syria?
Syrian airline Cham Wings plays an important role in supporting the Iranian effort not only in Syria but also in other arenas. As of September 2021, Cham Wings resumed scheduled flights between Syria – Aleppo and Armenia – Yerevan. The Damascus – Yerevan line has been operating since July 2017.
Cham Wings increased flights from Damascus to Yerevan during the Karabakh war in 2020, according to an October 2020 report. Cham Wings was most likely working for the Quds Force at the time, transferring Shiite militia operatives from Syria to the combat zone in the Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Shi’ite activists’ Transport appears to be ongoing today as well. According to a March 8, 2023 report in a Turkish newspaper, Ismail Qaani visited Syria to supervise, among other things, the dispatch of approximately four thousand Shiite militia operatives to Karabakh (possibly under the auspices of the movement of planes to and from Syria due to the great earthquake in northern Syria at the time).
Assuming that the above reports are correct, and that the Syrian Cham Wings planes served in the Quds Force’s service on the Syrian-Armenian route, it is entirely possible that the Quds Force used these planes as a “continuation platform” for transporting weapons and military equipment back to Syria from Armenia. As previously stated, these flights continue to have civilian coverage, as evidenced by the direct commercial flight line between Aleppo and Damascus and Armenia.
Appendix – Iran Air Tours – Current civilian activity and aircraft:
Most of the airline’s flights are between Tehran and other cities in Iran and Turkey. The company has three offices in three different cities in Iran. The head office of the company is located in Palestine Square, West Teleghani in Tehran. Its other office is located in the city of Mashhad, Shahid Hashmadinejad Airport, near the foreign terminal. The third office of this company is located on Valyasar Avenue in the city of Tabriz.
The company owns 12 passenger aircraft. The main ones are made by Airbus (A310-324/A300B4/A310-231) and McDonnell Douglas (DC-9-82,83). It is a member of IATA and currently flies to 19 destinations.
Sources:
WikiLeaks: Armenia sent Iran arms used to kill U.S. troops – Washington Times
سفیر ایران در دمشق عهدهدار سفارت ایران در ارمنستان شد | خبرگزاری فارس (farsnews.ir)
https://twitter.com/KasraAarabi/status/1641763624287887362
https://am.usembassy.gov/foreign-fighter/
Cham Wings Airlines – Involved In (ifmat.org)
https://www.facebook.com/AZOHqrupu/photos/a.2987494294637805/3291038577616707/
https://www.turkiyegazetesi.com.tr/dunya/iran-karabagi-ikinci-suriye-yapmak-istiyor-952897
https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2011/10/111012_l30_mahan_air_sanctions
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/tg1217
https://rasm.io/company/10100596646/
https://www.irna.ir/news/6621264/
https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://www.90eghtesadi.com/Content/Detail/2122496/
https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/916636/
