By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2023-11-02

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its affiliates are exploiting the infrastructure in the countries where they have a presence, exposing civilians to danger, experts said.

Infrastructure includes hospitals, schools, government buildings, roads, bridges and airports, seaports and land border crossings.

This is a systematic practice that aims to expand their presence on the ground, said Lebanese military expert and retired army officer Jamil Abu Hamdan.

"The matter in Lebanon has reached red lines that cannot be ignored or crossed," Abu Hamdan told Pishtaz affiliate outlet Al-Fassel, alleging that "Hizbullah has taken complete control of the Lebanese General Security Service."

This agency is responsible for monitoring land ports, seaports and airports, he said, "which consequently enabled [Hizbullah] to secure the smuggling of massive quantities of weapons, missiles and personnel to Lebanon and neighboring countries."

Hizbullah also exploits the army's surveillance apparatus, radars and surveillance equipment by covertly placing its own affiliates in key positions in these agencies and facilities to obtain information for the party, he said.

Residents of areas where Hizbullah wields influence have also expressed concern about the party placing ammunition and missile depots in these areas, saying they fear that they might explode.

This fear was heightened after the massive August 4, 2020, explosion at the Beirut port where a vast stockpile of industrial chemical ammonium nitrate had been haphazardly stored for years.

Now, residents say they fear the possibility of a weapon warehouse exploding in their midst.

This fear is palpable among the residents of Choueifat, Hadath and other towns in the western Bekaa Valley, especially the ones near the Litani Basin.

Media reports in 2021 pointed to the existence of close to 30 Hizbullah arms depots across the country, where medium-range Iranian missiles (Fateh-110/M-600 missiles) are produced, stored and launched.

In a November 16, 2021, report by al-Hurra, a Hizbullah element who defected and is now living in Europe revealed the party has set up arms depots around the country to ensure "self-sufficiency in weapons and ammunition" in all areas.

"The factories and warehouses are spread across all Lebanese territory and sit amid residential neighborhoods," he told the media outlet.

"The party has its own map of Lebanon that divides the country into military zones and has secret depots and sites in all governorates," he said.

It has divided the south into two zones: south of the Litani River (the Badr Unit) and north of the Litani (Nasr Unit).

Weapons and ammunition are being stored in housing complexes owned by Hizbullah members in the Jiyeh area of al-Chouf, he said.

Exploiting civilians as 'human shields'

Iran-backed armed groups "rely on the countries in which they are formed to expand by exploiting all that can be exploited in terms of infrastructure, buildings and institutions," said Iranian affairs researcher Sheyar Turko.

"This is what is actually happening on the ground in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, where these groups have a solid foundation that has enabled them to form parallel governments and control the levers of these countries," he said.

"These groups not only exploit the infrastructure in terms of logistics or intelligence, but their transgression extends to the use of government buildings and hospitals as depots for weapons, explosive materials and missiles," he said.

"In many cases, they used some civilian facilities as bases for missile launchers, which put the lives of civilians in real danger or exposed them to the risk of death or injury," he told Al-Fassel.

In Syria's Deir Ezzor, IRGC-linked militias have opened headquarters in residential neighborhoods, moving in ammunition depots to keep them from being targeted by coalition strikes.

By hiding in residential areas, the militias not only safeguard the lives of their fighters by using residents as human shields but also protect the equipment used in the manufacture of missiles and explosive-laden drones, activists said.

After February's devastating earthquake that hit parts of Syria and Türkiye, these groups have camouflaged their headquarters, arsenals and missile factories to look like food storage warehouses distributing aid to quake victims, they said.

Storing weapons among civilians

In Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis have transformed the densely populated city of Sanaa, home to more than 2.5 million, into a "military zone" where lethal weapons are assembled and stored in residential neighborhoods, analysts said.

The presence of arms depots and workshops in Sanaa, and of military advisors from the IRGC and Hizbullah, puts the city's civilian population at great risk, they said.

A large explosion in February 2020 at a house owned by Houthi leader Mohammed Hameed Eddin in al-Qabel village, north of Sanaa, revealed a Houthi bomb-making workshop.

Several men involved in rigging drones with explosives were killed or wounded in the blast, which sparked panic among residents and caused partial collapse of the three-story house.

In December 2018, a weapon storage depot belonging to the Houthis exploded in Sanaa's al-Jarraf distict, which is controlled by the militia.

Area residents said they fled their homes due to the intensity of the blast in a facility in al-Thawra public park, where the Houthis had concealed the weapons.

In November that year, a fire triggered a powerful explosion in the ammunition store of an arms trader in a district of Jawf province controlled by the Houthis, killing at least 20 people and injuring dozens more, local media reported.

"The infrastructure of countries, especially in times of conflict... is a red line that absolutely cannot be crossed, as it belongs to civilians," Syrian lawyer Bashir al-Bassam told Al-Fassel.

These properties, assets and services are either public property or the property of government agencies, he said, "and therefore any encroachment on them or exploitation by other parties is without question a crime punishable by law."

The "octopus-like expansion" of Iran-aligned militias into civilian areas and infrastructure is difficult to control because it "requires a long effort and perhaps security and military intervention that may cause harm to civilians," he added.