Vadym Volokhov

In our materials on “Borysfen Intel”'s posts, we have already reported how over the past four years the Islamic Republic of Iran has managed to construct the so-called “Shiite corridor” connecting Iran, southern Iraq, Tehran-controlled areas of Syria with Lebanon, where de facto the Hezbollah fully controls the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border and threatens Israel to a large extent. Given the existence of this corridor, Iran still has a chance to stay in Syria for some time. Without a corridor, the 120,000-strong armed formation of pro-Iranian forces in Syria will not last even for two months.

The Shiahs are an important element of the “Shiite corridor”, but since the May 2018 parliamentary elections and the victory of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, the situation has been changing. If Tehran loses the Iraqi link, the chain of the “Shiite corridor” will begin to disintegrate.

Recently, under considerable pressure is another part of the “Shiite corridor” — the controlled by Tehran Syrian territories along the Euphrates. The United States, Israel and the Western coalition forces in Syria continue to conduct active operations against Iranian armed formations. Both, Washington and Tel Aviv are well aware that in this situation it is impossible to remove Iran from Syria without a full-scale war. But nobody is ready for it. That is why the United States and the Western coalition are trying to cut the “Shiite corridor” on its separate sections.

The article is available in Ukrainian