The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

After disagreements over getting share of the Iranian gasoline | 4th Division withdraws from road oil trucks take to Lebanon

SOHR activists have confirmed that the 4th Division, headed by Maher al-Assad the brother of the Syrian regime’s president, has withdrawn from checkpoints along al-Qusayr road in the western countryside of Homs, which leads to Lebanon.

 

According to SOHR sources, the members of the 4th Division will stay away from the road for three days, until the transport of Iranian gasoline to Lebanon is accomplished. This development came after the 4th Division had demanded a share of the gasoline in light of the lake of gasoline in Syria. However, the division’s demands have been rejected.

 

Observatory sources reported earlier this morning that oil trucks carrying Iranian gasoline and diesel crossed from Syria into Lebanese territory under protection of the Lebanese Hezbollah. The Iranian oil tankers had been unloaded in Banyas harbour in the past few days, as the fuel was transferred by land to Homs which is under the ultimate control of the Lebanese Hezbollah. The roads on which the trucks traveled had been secured earlier by the 4th Division, where the fuel smugglers were kicked out of the region to ease the transportation of the fuel to Lebanon.

 

On September 12, SOHR activists reported that two crude oil tankers arrived at Banyas harbour in Tartus province on the Syrian coast from Iran. Sources of SOHR confirmed that the two tankers are carrying Iranian crude oil for Syria, and that the reports circulated by some media outlets of transporting the two tankers’ cargo to Lebanon are untrue. Lebanon’s share of the Iranian fuel already arrived in Syria a few days ago aboard three Iranian tankers, two carrying gasoline and one carrying petrol, while the Lebanese Hezbollah transported that share of fuel to Lebanon.

 

SOHR sources also reported that a new Iranian fuel tanker was on its way to Syria, but it is not known yet whether the cargo is provided to Syria or it would be transport to Lebanon by land, under Hezbollah supervision.

 

While on September 9, reliable SOHR sources confirmed that the three fuel tankers, which arrived in Syria from Iran on September 6, carried fuel to Lebanon not to Syria.

 

According to SOHR sources, two tankers carrying gasoline and one carrying petrol arrived on Monday at Banyas harbour in Tartus province. The three tankers were being unloaded, as the cargo would be transported to Lebanon by land through crossings under supervision of the Lebanese Hezbollah.

 

Official media outlets had claimed that two oil tankers anchored in Banyas as a part of camouflage, before SOHR sources confirmed that the tankers carried gasoline.

 

SOHR sources added “members of the 4th Division are prevalent at the crossings used for smuggling between Syria and Lebanon in Homs and Tartus, after the expulsion of civilian smugglers from the region, so that the 4th Division and Hezbollah could supervise the smuggling of Iranian oil to Lebanon through these crossings, especially in Homs countryside which is under the control of the Lebanese Hezbollah. Furthermore, the road between Homs and al-Qusayr had been secured, while the checkpoints and speed bumps had been removed.

 

Also, on September 5, reliable sources told SOHR that a new batch of oil trucks carrying fuel entered Syria from Iraq, as nearly 39 oil trucks crossed through the crossings controlled by Iranian-backed militias in al-Mayadeen and al-Bokamal in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The trucks took Dier Ezzor highway to Homs, then they headed to Lebanon. It is worth noting that this was the second batch of fuel to enter Syria from Iraq and head to Lebanon in that week. The first batch comprised at least 50 oil trucks.

 

According to SOHR sources, nine trucks of the recently-arrived batch headed to al-Mayadeen city, under Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas militiamen’s protection, where the trucks were unloaded their cargo in large tanks. It is worth noting that these tanks had been established by ISIS when it was controlling the region nearby al-Shibli monuments in al-Mayadeen desert, before Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas militia maintained them. This development coincided with the lack of fuel in areas under the control of the Syrian regime and its allies in Deir Ezzor after the suspension of smuggling fuel from SDF-held areas on the opposite bank of Euphrates river.

 

On August 29, SOHR activists reported the entry of nearly 50 trucks loaded with petrol from Iraq to Syria through al-Bukamal crossing in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, under protection of the 4th Division. According to SOHR sources the trucks were heading towards Lebanon.